From Hell to Heaven Or Not?
by YuyaSama
Summary: Life is hard in Hell's Kitchen where Yuya lives since she witnessed her brother's brutal murder four years ago. But when the Mibu Brother's turn up one night, she is faced with more changes than she ever expected... Chapter 10's up! Read on inside! KyoYuy
1. Curious Brothers

My second fanfic!! Okay as my first one was only a oneshot, I tried writing a real one... This is only the first chapter to see if it's worth continuing... So I'm planning on your reviews cause without them I won't know if there's even a reason to continue writing it... So I hope you enjoy it!

**Disclaimer: **i do not own Samurai Deeper Kyo... be happy I don't or all these great fanfics here wouldn't even exist! Although it would be very - ok ok, on to the story!

Chapter 1 

Curious Brothers

Nighttime. A small room on the fourth floor. A blonde girl sitting on a small sofa, watching television. Pre-recorded laughter rings through the room and the girl's impassive face changes to wear a derisive expression. Life definitely wasn't a soap opera. So much, you learnt after having lived in Hell's Kitchen for some time. Hell's Kitchen? Hell yeah, that's how this neighbourhood is called. Quite well named, really.

Twelve years of a child's dreams of what was life… Well, she had quickly been disillusioned when she came to live here about four years ago. Four years since her brother's murder. Yuya clenched her hands around the remote.

She angrily shook of the vivid memories of her brother's death: revenge, that's what she was surviving for. Yes, surviving, for you could hardly say anybody **lived** in one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods of the city. Hell's Kitchen had made her hard; it ended up doing that all of its residents… that is to say, if it didn't kill them before. Killing was something else that people there always ended up doing. Sometimes, only at those times when the solid cocoon around her heart grew weaker, she wished she were in one of those meaningless TV-shows. But there was no time for weaknesses, Yuya always reminded herself, if she didn't want to end up dead on the pavement. That was the reality of her existence.

Yuya lifted her head to look at the hands of a clock hanging on the wall. Sighing, she stood up and went to her closet, changed into a short jeans skirt and a top and tied her hair into a high ponytail. She left the apartment and began climbing down flights of stairs. The silver surface of a small gun glinted on her thigh…

The sixteen year old quickly walked down the streets of worn-down, graffitied houses. She glanced around warily, her body tense while her steps directed her towards the Overdrive, a club where she worked as a bargirl. That was her legal job, as for her other occupations… better not talk about it. Everyone in the area was involved in something illegal; Hell's Kitchen was the perfect definition for the term "illegality", so how could it be otherwise?

The neon sign of the Overdrive shone through the night and the sound of Hip-Hop music amplified as she approached. Hard wasn't really the word to describe her, Yuya mused. It was just that the violence and pain now left her cold, she accepted them as a normal part of her life. "You wanna survive? Play the game." Someone had told her that at one of those times when she had though she would not be able to take it. And she had taken their advice…

"Hey shawty! What's up?"

She had reached the club and was now greeted by the bouncer.

"Hey Chaz!" A smile graced Yuya's face as she made her way through the crowd surrounding the doors.

"So… How about the two of us right after you're done here, huh?" Chaz joked as he hugged her and let her into the building.

"Ah, you're gonna have to try harder than that, man! And…I've stil got business to do."

"Oh." Chaz's smile disappeared. He looked worried. "Be careful, Yuya. "

"I'm gonna be, don't worry…"

And with that she finally stepped on the dance floor and made her way to the bar through a winding mass of densely packed people.

The end of her shift was nearing and Yuya was serving a drink and lightly flirting with some guy when her eyes fell on two men moving across the dance floor to the bar. "They got paper." was her first thought, her small flirt gone from her mind. They were both tall and, she saw, as they drew nearer, looked almost alike; they were probably brothers. The red long hair that fell over the eyes of one of them was the only feature that distinguished them. They both sat down at the bar, completely oblivious to the many girls' eyes following them.

Yuya immediately went up to them, smirking inwardly but a wide smile across her face. She needed money and these two came exactly at the right time. She could feel the other bargirl's angry eyes on her.

"Water, please." said the black haired one of the two. He had a smooth, juvenile face and wide blue eyes. His hair was short and he looked distinctly dishevelled.

Yuya quirked an eyebrow at the request and looked enquiringly at the second one.

"Sake" he said.

"Um – ok, give me a sec!"

_Hmmm, the first one's easy but the red-haired one_…_ interesting…_

"There you go!" the blonde said, giving them the drinks, "So where're you guys from? Never saw you here before."

"We're – "started the short-haired one but he was silenced by his brother.

"None of your business."

"Kyo, don't be like that! I'm Kyoshiro and this is Kyo!"

Yuya beamed at him, her emerald eyes bright.

"Nice to meet you guys! I'm Yuya!"

Piercing red eyes fixed her. Kyo, who had been gazing moodily into the depths of his glass, was suddenly looking at her intently. She felt as if her mind, her heart, her soul, or whatever you wanted to call it, were left bare under his gaze.

"Yuya?" Kyoshiro's voice pulled her out of her trance-like state. "Yuya Shiina?"

"Um, yeah, how do you know?"

"Well, we've been looking for you all over. It's taken us ages." He seemed glad.

"Exactly and I'd've thought we'd find someone better than this underdeveloped brat." added Kyo, smirking.

"WHAT? SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU..." But Kyo was dispensed of hearing just exactly what he was by the loud voice of the DJ who was now addressing the crowd. Fuming, Yuya awaited the end of the DJ's tirade to continue her rant but Kyo telling his brother to get on with what they had come to do put her off. Now, this was definitely suspicious… Her hand edged towards her gun but –

"You won't need that one, woman." said Kyo contemptuously.

Startled, Yuya actually drew back. How did he know?

"Yuya-san, we have a lot to explain to you. But it's too loud in here, just come out on the street with us…"

Despite Kyoshiro's earnest look, Yuya stayed guarded. What if her intuition had failed her and the two weren't rich people after all? Damn, they might want revenge for that guy she'd killed a few days ago; he hadn't paid the speed he'd got from her gang...

"Please, Yuya-san! We have to talk to you, Muramasa sends us, he knew your brother Nozomu!"

Yuya gasped. Muramasa? **The** Muramasa Mibu? He was one of the richest men in the country! Were those two guy the Mibu brothers? And they said Muramasa Mibu knew her brother… Yuya was quite sure nobody in Hell's Kitchen knew his name.

"You're- You're the Mibu brothers? Muramasa-san? What does he want with me? "

"Come one, bitch. He told you we'd tell you outside."

Yuya was in such a daze that she didn't even notice Kyo caling her "bitch". Slowly, she came out from behind the bar and walking between Kyo and Kyoshiro, crossed the floor towards the exit. But suddenly a tattooed hand grabbed her wrist.

"Yuya-han! Where are you going? Who are these guys?"

The speaker was a young man, wearing a red and white striped bandana. He was watching the Mibu brothers and his eyes usually shut to thin slits, were now narrowed in suspicion.

"Oh Tora, these are…um… just friends!" Yuya lied in false cheery voice. "I'll be fine, okay?"

He didn't relinquish his grip.

"They look weird, Yuya-han. Stay here."

"I'm okay. I told you, they're just friends." She looked at him with what she intended to be a soothing smile but she looked more exasperated than anything else. "Benitora, I'm perfectly able to handle myself!"

He was going to mess up her chance of perhaps getting rich! Being looked for by a millionaire didn't happen any day! Okay, she was still doubtful but what if they were telling the truth? Yuya was already planning to become a little more violent to free herself but, with a swift movement of his arm, Kyo had already broken Benitora's grip on her hand and was pulling her along with him.

The strange trio had arrived outside. The light of a nearby streetlamp cast a misty orange gleam on the black sports car parked right in front of the club. _They got luck it's still there!_

"So what's it you guys wanted to tell me?"

"We've been sent by Muramasa, our father. He knew your brother and he's been looking for you since his death but you were impossible to find!" Kyoshiro explained. "You see, he promised Nozomu he would care for you if he died."

Yuya looked at him disbelievingly. There was no way this was true. Nobody helped a complete stranger… but then, if Muramasa indeed knew her brother then what Kyoshiro claimed could be the truth. Hope was blossoming somewhere deep within the cocoon, she had built around her heart but she said:

"Don't kid me! Who says you guys are telling the truth? I don't even know if you really are the Mibu brothers!"

Again, Kyo's penetrating stare met hers.

"We are." he stated. "And here's the proof you want."

He handed Yuya a piece of paper. She took it, frowning. Her eyes widened as she recognised her brother's handwriting:

Muramasa,

I have often told you about Yuya, my sister. I know I am asking you a great favour but I need to be sure she is safe. She is now almost 12 years old and has no family except me. In the event of my death, would you take her and care for her until she is 18 years old? You're the only one I can trust with her.

Shiina Nozumu.

_Nii-sama… So he really knew Muramasa! I never knew… But then, there was so much he didn't tell me…_ She pressed the small letter, or rather note, to her chest. She was getting out of here! There were still people who thought of her, who had actually looked for her for four years! She looked up to see Kyoshiro smiling at her. Slowly, a smile formed on her face:

"I'm coming."

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I'm in two minds about this chapter.. you guys judge of it... R&R, please!


	2. Lost and Found

Second chapter! Just finished writing it... Give me some feedback, I'm open to any comments, most of all on what I can improve

**Disclaimer**: I do not own SDK! But I do own this story...

Chapter 2

Lost and Found

Moments later, the black car rushed off, leaving behind the place, which had been her home for now four years. It took her towards a new, but still uncertain, future, leaving behind derelict houses and bulging dustbins. Yuya did not quite know what to make of this; the events had happened so unexpectedly that she was having trouble realising what had actually happened. A sharp pain began pulsing in her temples. Renouncing to try to think about anything, Yuya lent back in her seat. She dimly registered Kyoshiro, on the passenger's seat, talking animatedly, asking her questions, wanting to know everything from Yuya's life in Hell's Kitchen to her measurements. Fortunately, he was interrupted by loud detonations when they reached the outskirts of the neighbourhood.

"Were… Were that gunshots? What happened?" the boy (he seemed so childlike!) was glancing around nervously, as if expecting a murderer to emerge from under the seats.

Her head throbbing even more, Yuya opened her mouth to answer, when a car, its occupants concealed by tanned windows, came streaking past them.

"Drive-by, I guess…" was her indifferent answer.

"A drive-by? You mean like in the movies?" Kyoshiro turned around to look at her disbelievingly. He had obviously been under the impression that these things only existed in fiction. Kyo chuckled.

"God, this place is dangerous! How did you… did you do it?"

The young girl knew Kyoshiro wanted to know how she had managed to survive in a place that was obviously so hostile to human life. But this was, Yuya thought, not quite the right time to tell her knew "protectors" about her "occupations". Yuya shifted uncomfortably in her seat, the bare skin of her legs was sticking to the smooth leather, and tried to find a credible answer.

"Well, er… you know… I just worked at the club and tried to… um… keep out of it and… " her voice trailed away.

"_Yeah right Yuya, keep out of it! The hell you did!_" Yuya scolded herself while hoping that the Mibu brothers would be satisfied with her very inconclusive answer. She was in luck: Kyoshiro was contented by her explanation and Kyo still absorbed in thought.

Silence returned to the car for the rest of the journey for although Yuya had millions of questions to ask, she felt she would hardly get any usable answer out of Kyo and Kyoshiro was, in her opinion, much too childish. When they finally arrived, dawn had risen. Yuya had fallen into a deep sleep, her head against the windowpane. But she was disturbed when the latter suddenly disappeared, leaving her hanging in mid-air, held back only by her seat belt. She jerked awake, the cold morning air penetrating her, chasing away all traces of her headache.

"Get out, dogface." Kyo was holding the door open, waiting for her to get out. She quickly unfastened her seatbelt and scrambled out of the car. Yuya stood outside, shivering, in front of a very large, traditional Japanese house. It sat there, bathed in the pearly light filtering through the mist. She slowly revolved on the spot, taking in the environs. There was no one outside, a quiet peacefulness emanated from the whole place. It was surrounded by a large, thick forest, stretching farer than Yuya could see. It looked greyish through the thick white air. Yuya had made half a turn and now felt a slight pang of guilt as she saw the blurred tops of the city's skyscrapers occasionally ripping through the curtains of mist. She was leaving a lot behind… people that were relying on her… a friend. She turned away abruptly. No one, yes no one in Hell's Kitchen would have turned their back to an opportunity such as hers. How very much mistaken she was.

Meanwhile, a man was pacing his room relentlessly, waiting for a phone call or any other sign of life. He jumped when the telephone did ring and hurried to pick up the receiver. His face slackened in disappointment as he heard the voice of the caller:

"Oh, it's you, Shirogarasu."

"Well, yeah I was expecting Yuya-han…"

"Yeah, you see she's gone! I saw her with some guys at the Overdrive and now she's gone! I've tried to call her but she doesn't pick up! Have you seen her?"

"Fucking shit! I knew these guys were shady! I should have stopped her going with them… It's all my fault!"

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?" The young man almost screamed, still pacing. "She's gone since yesterday night, Shirogarasu! I bet… I bet they've…"

"I know, I know but still, I'm worried. You know, she's only sixteen and I… "

"How can you talk about business now? Help me find her, fuck the damn speed!"

"Okay, okay… But only a till tomorrow, okay? I don't like this!"

"Hmm, okay… I can finish that off quick…"

Benitora hung up and his elbows on the dresser, his face concealed behind his hands, tried to bring himself off the idea to start a search through whole the city. Yuya… Where had she gone? Who were these to guys? At the thought of them, hot anger surged through him, mingled to something else: jealousy. He knew Yuya had always rejected his attempts to be more than just friends with her but he still loved her… and blamed himself terribly for letting the sixteen-year old blonde walk off with two strangers.

Slowly straightening himself, he walked to his bed and picked up a weapon that lay there; it was a short dagger. It looked rather inoffensive but anyone in Hell's Kitchen knew that Benitora's laughing and friendly appearance was misleading. His gang itself was very unusual, composed of the ever so polite and calm Shirogarasu, the towering Kurosasori whose temper was always right beneath boiling point, himself and Shiina Yuya. Their weapons, except Yuya's gun, were all rather old-fashioned but being as skilled as they were, they could playfully avoid "more modern" attacks.

His weapon concealed beneath his shirt, the so-called, Red Tiger left his appartement to pursue his sombre business…

Yuya was in awe. In awe, because she now saw that money did not necessarily mean ostentatiousness. You did not need grandiose furniture, expensive paintings and the largest flat-screen television available to induce respect. The man sitting in front of her, blond like herself, was smiling serenely. So this was Muramasa-sama. She had often wondered how he looked like, for he almost never appeared in public. She had expected everything, except the Muramasa who had greeted her so warmly. He somewhat soothed her mixed-up emotions resulting from the turn her life had so abruptly taken.

"Yuya-san, you have read the note?" he now asked her.

"Yes, I have, Muramasa-sama. I.. I never knew, you were Nii-sama's friend… and thanks for... for helping me."

"There's no need to thank me, it's only natural… Nozumu was one of my best friends. We have known each other for a long time… But let's talk about yourself…"

His smile encouraged her and Yuya found herself telling him everything that had happened to her since that fatal day. How she had been brought to an orphanage, only to run away the next day. owHHow she had tried to make a living while evading the authorities and she had finally had to come to live in Hell's Kitchen. She even told him about her gang and the drug dealings she had taken part in. Yuya hadn't been planning to tell him these criminal details of her life but he gave her such a feeling of trust that her all her memories came spilling out of her mouth. He listened to her, without interrupting, until the end of her tale.

"You are strong, Yuya-san, you made it through life when you were only twelve. Now, is the time to rest." Muramasa-san smiled and Yuya knew she would always be welcome.

And then came the time to talk about what mattered in the present time: school. Yuya looked slightly guilty. School! Of course, she had officially been going to school but in reality, she had seen the inside of a classroom only about once or twice a week. To her surprise, as she told this Muramasa in a small voice, he laughed aloud.

"Twice a week? That's more than I expected!" But Muramasa soon returned to a serious expression. "Well, you'll have to go there everyday of the week now, except Saturday's and Sunday's, of course. You are already enrolled in the Mibu High School. Kyo and Kyoshiro are on it too."

"Kyo and Kyoshiro still go to school?" asked Yuya bewildered. They seemed much too old.

"Yes, Kyo is in his last year and Kyoshiro will be in your class." Muramasa chuckled. "I know, they seem much older than they really are, especially Kyo…"

"Yeah, I thought they were already adults… "

After her very long conversation with Muramasa, a girl Yuya hadn't seen yet led her to her new room. Sakuya seemed to be about her age, perhaps a bit older, had delicate features and lustrous dark hair that cascaded down her back. They went through the many corridors of the house and Yuya found herself marvelling at her beauty - with a tiny hint of jealousy as her thoughts went over to Kyo. But she was relieved – which irritated her even more than the fact that she had even felt jealous – when Sakuya told her she was Kyoshiro's girlfriend.

Yuya's room was very large, much larger than any room she had ever had. The deep blue blanket on huge bed under the high windows was flooded with sunlight. The rest of the room was filled with everything a girl could come to need (most of all, a mirror!) and a computer. Sakuya was looking at her expectantly, obviously wanting to know how she found it.

"It's… It's just great! Thanks" Yuya said, at once disbelieving and amazed.

A warm smile formed on Sakuya's face and her voice was kind when she said:

"Welcome home, Yuya!"

-----------------------------------------

Enjoyed it or not? Tell me, if not then there's no use me continuing to write this! R&R please...


	3. Foo, Bar and Rainy Woes

I know, I know! It's been a long time! I'm studying for exams right now so bear with me And I had a sudden burst of inspiration for a new story so it kinda delayed this... So here you go! READ!!!!!

- but before, as usual:

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Samurai Deeper Kyo.

Chapter 3

Foo, Bar and Rainy Woes

Kyo had made for his room the moment they had arrived. He liked being alone, being with others only unnecessarily complicated things. His room reflected his personality: one of its walls was blood red and his bed completely black, the covers hanging down onto the floor, ruffled. The floor and every other surface available were littered with everything that could possibly be related to computers. The overlong katana lying near the foot of the bed looked strangely out of place among the many gadgets. It looked as if it had been used a short while ago, although it could have been thought to be old family heirloom. He had not slept; he had never needed much sleep. The redheaded man was now sitting in front of one of the three computers in his room, staring unseeingly at the page of code before him. He unconsciously took a sip of sake out of one of the ever-present bottles on the table and slowly started typing:

$foo 16;

$bar $foo;

He angrily pounded the keyboard, erasing what he had just written. What **was** he doing? $bar $foo? The arrival of this woman **had **complicated things seeing as he was seemingly unable to concentrate on his programming. These gleaming clear green eyes… Something had run down the back of his spine the moment his eyes had locked with hers… Of course, he had kept his stony, sarcastic exterior, as he always did. What it had been, he did not know and he felt no desire to investigate it further. This girl was not different from the rest of the girl's he had gone out with. He was always with some girl, in fact, he had many girls at the same time - he **was**, after all, the best-looking guy in the city - but they were nothing special; he just needed them to pass the time.

And still, it had been there, that reaction to her that had suddenly made his heartbeats resound loudly in his chest and his head feel light. Yes, he had been drinking but Kyo Mibu was never **ever** affected by any kind of alcohol. He always remained his cold, rational but also fierce self and he was definitely not going to let himself be submerged by what people called "emotions".

His head clear once again, he plunged back into his code writing while the frail blonde girl lay in deep slumber one her midnight blue bed.

Yuya awoke around midday. After a further inspection of everything her new room had to offer (she even had her own bathroom!), she tried to find her way to the living room of the Mibu family. After what seemed like an eternity of fruitless search, Yuya almost collided with someone she not yet met.

"Aaaah… Our new ghetto-girl…"

The woman before her smiled mockingly. Her black hair almost touched the floor and her very protuberant breasts looked as though they were going to fall out of her short t-shirt at any moment.

Yuya eyebrows pulled into a frown but the woman didn't let her speak.

"I am the fascinating Izumo no Okuni and you are Yuya Shiina, I presume. I'm in **Kyo**'s class…"

She put a lot of emphasis on "Kyo".

"Well, I guess you're lost?" Okuni went on and the smile on her face widened while the furrows in the blonde's brow grew even deeper. "**I'll** show you the way." Okuni told her with an imperious wave of hand.

_Bitch._Yuya followed her grudgingly while thinking of exactly what swear words she would use to show this woman who she was messing with… if she weren't lost. Why did this house have to be so big anyways?

They finally arrived in the dining room where two maids were finishing dressing up the table. The room was held in a crème décor, with wide curtained windows looking out on the manicured lawns of the garden. In the center stood the dining table, where eight people could easily sit together. However, the room was clearly only used by the family and friends, the Mibus had a more spacious one for large dinners.

Okuni, evidently a frequent guest, was already sitting on a nearby sofa and idly reading a magazine that had been lying on the small table next to it. Slightly awkward, Yuya stepped further into the room while the two maids left it quietly.

"Yuya-chan! So how do you like it?"

Yuya turned around; Kyoshiro, followed by Sakuya and Kyo entered the room.

"Kyoshiro!" She quickly walked over to him, a smile across her face. "It's great here! I love it… And your father is so nice and friendly…"

"For some reason, everyone likes our dad!" Kyoshiro grinned sheepishly. "I'm happy you like it here! You've already met Sakuya, right?"

The three sat down at the table, Sakuya next to Yuya and Kyoshiro on the opposite side. Yuya sent a furtive glance in Kyo's direction but he had made for one of the sofas and Okuni had started a whispered conversation with him, leaning heavily on his shoulder.

A few minutes later, Muramasa had joined them and the maids had returned, bearing platters full of food. Only now, did Yuya realise how hungry she was and she eagerly started eating as soon as everyone was served.

"You surpassed yourself again, Sakuya!" Muramasa said, and everyone, except Kyo, nodded in agreement.

"You cooked this, Sakuya?" asked Yuya, surprised. "Wow, it's really, really good!"

"Thanks, Yuya-chan." Sakuya beamed.

"Oh, um, Muramasa-sama ? I still have to get all my stuff from my apartment and I need to talk to my landlord… So could I somehow get to Hell's Kitchen afterwards? asked Yuya some moments later.

She had only just realised she hadn't taken anything with her except what she was wearing.

"Oh, of course you can, Yuya-san… I guess Kyoshiro could drive you."

Kyoshiro eagerly agreed and when the meal was over, he and Yuya set off. This time, they took yet another car, which stood parked in the overlarge garage of the Mibu residence, surrounded by even more cars of varying sizes, colours and forms.

Half an hour later, the car rolled down the lively streets of Hell's Kitchen, and Yuya was surprised to feel like a stranger when she looked out at the men leaning at street corners, against their cars or talking in barber's shops. Yuya giving him directions, Kyoshiro wound his way through the streets of the neighbourhood, finally stopping in front of the four-storey house where the girl had lived for four years until last night. As Yuya stepped out onto the pavement and into the house, her feeling of estrangement intensified and in a way, she was angry with herself for feeling the way she did. She **had** lived here for four years and yet, after less than a day at the Mibu's, she already felt as if it her place was not in Hell's Kitchen? Did she somehow feel superior, now that she had seen what her new life would bring her? _No, no, she did not, me wanting a better life is only normal after all_, she thought, as she climbed the stairs, Kyoshiro in her wake.

"Um… Okay, so this is where I live - used to live…" said Yuya as she unlocked the door, "Uh… I just need to go talk to my landlord for second, you can stay here. I'll be right back."

The proprietor of the house who lived in the apartment on the ground floor was not overly fussed with her leaving. She had never been a regular rent payer anyways and he was rather happy to see the back of her. When she came back to her apartment, Kyoshiro was sitting on her sofa, watching some talk show.

"I'm back! Everything's settled, so let's pack my stuff, okay?" But Kyoshiro didn't seem to hear her and continued staring avidly at the television.

"KYOSHIROOO!" Yuya screamed, hands on her hips. "We've come here to get my stuff, NOT watch television!"

The girl seized the remote and turned off the television, earning an outraged groan from the boy. "Come on! You said you would help me. I don't want to be stuck in this place all day!"

She bit her lip as soon as her last words had left mouth. True enough, she had never really **liked **Hell's Kitchen but it had been her home and she had become used to its rough ways and unspoken laws. She quickly cut short the stream of memories flooding her mental eye to prevent Kyoshiro getting a too close look of her underwear and buried her guilty thoughts under work.

Night had fallen when the two stepped out on the street, each laden with large bags. Kyoshiro had already packed the bags he was carrying into the trunk and was waiting on the drivers seat and Yuya was going to follow suit when she heard loud footsteps approaching. She turned around and saw Benitora, wide-eyed, sweaty and pale.

"Yuya!", he halted abruptly, panting. "There you are! I was looking for you all over. Where were you? I was so worried –" his eyes went to the bulging bags she was carrying and he seemed to cave in. "Wha – what are you doing? You're not… You're not moving, right?"

"Tora - I… Yes, I am." Yuya admitted her voice almost apologetic. "I'm moving away to – "

But the red-haired man had already noticed Kyoshiro's (not very hard to overlook) gleaming red sport scar.

"Yuya! Who is that? Is it one of them guys I saw you with at the club yesterday night?"

"Yes he is, Tora, he… they were bringing me a message from their father Muramasa, he was a friend of Nii-sama… Actually, it was more of a message from Nii-sama, you know… And," she took a deep breath. "I'm going to live there from now on."

"You're – You're what?" Benitora looked utterly confused. "Muramasa? **The** Muramasa? Your brother?"

"Yes, Muramasa promised he'd care for me if my brother died and well, they only just found me… "

Benitora gazed at her silently for a while, as if searching for something in her face, then he said quietly:

"So you're gone? You're just leaving these four years behind? Just like that?" his voice grew steadily louder, "So you didn't even think of calling me? Any of us! I was worried sick and you were actually just enjoying you're new loaded-chick-life?"

He had screamed those last words, despair, anger and disgust written on his face. Yuya dropped her bags and took a few steps towards him, imploring.

"Please, Tora! Of course I'd have called you! But so much happened, I first had to realise it myself! And it's not like that! I won't forget you guys but you have to see that this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for me? Can't you see that? You know exactly I won't ever get what I want in here? Do you really think I wanna spent my life busting people's heads off for some ice? This is the best that could happen to me!"

"I knew you loved money, Yuya, but I never thought it'd go as far as that. What's with you saying that happiness isn't something one can give to you but that you have to get by **your own hard work**, huh? You remember, don't you? I thought I knew you. I wouldn't have thought a few shiny cars and a big villa would make you forget yourself…" His tone had grown hard.

Yuya felt tears forming in her eyes and moved to take his hand but Benitora jerked it away, turned around and left. She called after him but he ignored her and was quickly swallowed by the night. Yuya slowly turned around and moved to retrieve her bags when she saw Shirogarasu standing there. He was looking at her calmly, his head slightly to the side.

"So you are leaving us, Yuya. Good luck on your way, my friend." His smile was half-sad half-pitying as he too, left.

The young girl stood rooted to the spot, her bags still hanging from her limp arms, not noticing the rain, which had started to fall and now ran down her face, replacing the tears she did not spill.

"Yuya?" came Kyoshiro's voice through the open window of his car.

She winced as if she had been hit, then dragged her baggage to the car and put it in the trunk. The icy raindrops falling from above crashed down upon her with in increasing number and she ran to get into the car next to Kyoshiro.

"Um… Yuya? What happened?" he asked tentatively.

Not answering, she signalled him silently to drive off. He did and shooting anxious looks at here every now and then. The blonde was staring out of the window, looking out at the blurred streets of Hell's Kitchen. The raindrops were hammering onto the car. Her clothes were soaked but she didn't seem to feel the cold. Kyoshiro grew more and more uneasy as her silence stretched on until she gave a yelp as they passed a small shop, apparently full of people.

"Stop!"

Startled, he braked hard, the wheels splashing water onto the sidewalk. Without further explanation, Yuya wrenched open the door, ran to the shop and disappeared into it.

Utterly non-plussed, Kyoshiro waited until she came back out after some time, now positively dripping with water.

"What was **that**? he asked, completely astonished.

"I… I went to say goodbye… to some friend.s" Her voice was low and her emerald eyes were glistening. It had been hard, talking to Chaz and all the others... But she had made the mistake once with Benitora. She would not make it twice.

"Goodbye?" asked Kyoshiro his blue eyes wide. "But - but you'll still be able to come back and visit your friends, you know? I mean… it's not the end of the world."

Why was she acting as if she were leaving the country? She was only moving, really…

"No, Kyoshiro." replied Yuya with a sad chuckle. "For you, it's only moving from one place to another but for me - for us here, it's different..." She turned back to the window where Hell's Kitchen was speeding past. "I'm leaving to another world…"

And when they ran through the torrential rain, carrying her belongings to the Mibu residence, Yuya had pronounced no other word.

----------------

Okay, this was loooong! At least it was for me I watched Pirates of the Carribbean 3 yesterday! Yay, lovin' it! I love Jack Sparrow! Savvy? Listen to the tool! lol Hope this chapter was good and I just couldn't help putting in the foo and bar thing, I was reading some php or C# tutorial at that point...

I apologize for any mispellings, grammar mistakes, typographical mistakes and any other type mistakes you might have come across Review please!!!!!!!!


	4. Mibu High School

After a veeeeeery long time, I'm back again with Chapter Four! I'm sorry you guys had to wait for so long! I was on holiday and didn't have much time to write... This chapter was actually intended to be a longer and cover more stuff. I'd writtten it by hand but now that I've typed it, I realise it's really too much to cram into one chapter so I've divided it into two. That also means you guys won't have to wait so long for the next one, part of it's already written! hehe

Dedication: To all my reviewers! Thanks! And sorry I didn't reply but as I said, I was away and didn't have a lot of time. I read the reviews, though, and they motivated me! Keep 'em coming! Oh yes and to J. K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series! Love them and Deathly Hallows is the best!!!!

Disclaimer: Samurai Deeper Kyo does not belong to me but to Kamijyo Akimine.

* * *

Chapter 4

Mibu High School

It was not the time for mourning, Yuya decided later, when Kyoshiro had left the bags in her room and she was staring dejectedly out at the downpour. She was on the brink of starting a new life and she wouldn't let a anyone spoil it. Although she had now left Hell's Kitchen forever, she had kept this certain coldness of feeling Hell's Kitchen taught its residents. She had not cried and she would not start doing so now. Resolutely sliding of her bed, she went over to her bags and started sorting her belongings.

Monday morning downed wet and bright; water was still gently dripping from the green tree buds and the air streaming in through Yuya's open windows was full of moisture.

She grunted sleepily, rolled around as to prevent the rays of sunshine from disturbing her and slept on. She did not wake until a very annoyed-looking boy jerked open the door and proceeded to shaking her roughly by the shoulder, while entreating her to wake up and addressing her by the affectionate term of "Dogface".

Still half-asleep, Yuya made to slap at the intruder, so that she hit his naked and muscular torso. That was enough to make her fully alert; she quickly sat up and a dishevelled Kyo wearing nothing but boxers came into focus.

"Kyo! What was that for? I was dreaming – " Yuya quickly bit her lip to prevent herself from saying any more and averted her eyes.

"Been dreaming about me, right, Dogface?" Kyo smirked and Yuya felt the blood rising into her pale cheeks.

She surely looked attractive, her cheeks slightly flushed, her small mouth reddened and her blonde hair dishevelled by sleep. Kyo couldn't help but notice all of this as the girl slowly got out of bed. The effect his tanned, muscular body and this unique 'something' that made his face rough and manly yet in some way beautiful, not to mention these ruby eyes that seemed to hide so much behind their coldness had on her was not less flattering. There was a dense silence during which each stared at the other, green and red interlocking, completely absorbed – and then Yuya could read nothing but scorn off his smooth face.

"You need to grow some more, flat-chest!"

Kyo turned and walked to the door, easily dodging the high-heel shoe thrown at him from behind. At the door he stopped.

"I'm leaving in fifteen minutes. Be outside unless you wanna walk to school."

He left.

Chest heaving quickly, Yuya stood rooted to the spot.

"BASTARD!" she screamed at the top of her lungs and stomped off to the bathroom.

Eight o'clock found Yuya outside with her schoolbag. She was exactly on time and Kyo sitting in his car in front of the house, waiting. She slid onto the passenger's seat and stared straight through the window, ignoring him. Kyoshiro arrived, running.

"**Ohayo**, Yuya-san, Kyo!" he said cheerfully and not seeming to notice the deadly atmosphere in the car, he got in to the back. Kyo still showed no sign of leaving.

"Um … Kyo?" Yuya hazarded at length, her voice mounting ominously. "Why aren't we leaving? I thought I had to be **exactly** on time?"

"Okuni-san isn't there yet!" Kyoshiro replied when his brother didn't, peering outside.

"Okuni?" asked Yuya, slightly taken aback. "Oh … I didn't know she'd slept over."

She involuntarily slipped a glance at Kyo; his face was blank. Okuni finally arrived, not at all concerned with the fear of having kept Kyo waiting and looking as close to perfect as one could be, much closer, at least, Yuya thought, than she herself had managed to get this morning.

At a few minutes to nine, Kyo halted the car on the parking lot next to the imposing main building of the Mibu High School. The four joined the throng of student's heading towards the entrance. A small group near it hailed Kyo and Kyoshiro loudly as they approached.

"Hey Kyo, Kyoshiro, Okuni! And – oh ! Hey beautiful!" the speaker added at the sight of Yuya. He had detached himself from the group to meet them; one could easily qualify him as beautiful with his delicate, feminine features and long raven hair.

"Um … Hey." Yuya said, slightly dazed.

"Is she your new girlfriend?" he now asked Kyo, still surveying her with lively interest.

"Shut up, Yukimura." Kyo growled, turning away.

"Aah, I seem to have hit a nerve!" Yukimura chuckled, turning to Yuya. "So what's your name, Miss Kyo's New Girlfriend?"

"I am **not **his girlfriend!" she said, wishing to sound irritated, although it was hard to manage while talking to that over-cheerful boy. "And my name's Yuya Shiina."

"Yuya Shiina?"

Yukimura's eyes had widened slightly but then he made a mock bow and said, smiling:

"Yukimura Sanada, at your service."

As they talked, they had walked on towards the others whom Yuya now was introduced to by Kyoshiro. Two of them were in her new class, Mahiro, a girl with abundant black locks, and Akira, quiet, blonde - almost white-haired and blind. Hotaru, a guy who seemed utterly detached and Yukimura were both in Kyo's class.

"Please, introduce yourself to the class." Mr. Fujiwara, Yuya's new Japanese teacher, said to her as she stood before it several minutes later.

"Um - Hey, you guys! I'm Yuya Shiina!" said Yuya, smiling widely.

"Welcome, Shiina-san. Go and sit there, next to Mahiro-san."

Many boys' eyes followed her progress down an aisle and to her place. Mahiro looked amused. The lesson began but Japanese had never been a problem for Yuya, even though she had missed at least half a year's worth of schooldays during her time in Hell's Kitchen. She subsequently diverted her attention to her seat neighbour.

"So you live at the Mibu's now?" the latter breathed.

Yuya nodded.

"They found me two days ago, Kyo and Kyoshiro, I mean, and Muramasa-sama took me in … " and in response to Mahiro's questioning face, she added, "'Cause my brother – he's dead now – was a friend of Muramasa-sama's and he –"

But Yuya suddenly fell silent. She had suddenly realised something. If Nozomu had written that letter to Muramasa, that letter she now kept in her wallet at all times, if he had, then that meant he had expected to die, had somehow foreseen his murder! The realisation hit to her as a shock. She had had so many things to think about in the last twenty-four hours that she had not dwelled on any deeper signification of her brother's letter.

"Um … Yuya?" Mahiro asked. "Is anything wrong?"

"Oh … er … no, no, it's nothing, I'm okay!" Yuya said hastily and grinned. "It's just, I'd been thinking of my brother – he was murdered."

"I'm really sorry about your brother." Mahiro's face reflected her words. "Wh- When did it happen?"

"Four years ago … I was twelve. He's the only person I ever had. " Yuya smiled sadly. "I don't even remember having parents, you see?"

"Mahiro-san, Yuya-san! Would you deign it adequate to show at least minimal interest in my course?"

Mr. Fujiwara looked at them sternly.

"Y-Yes! Of course, Fujiwara-sensei!" they quickly chorused and buried their noses in their textbooks to stifle their laughs.

"You should come over sometimes, Mahiro! Could get pretty lonely with two couples around!"

Yuya laughed and winked at Kyoshiro. It was break time and the four of them, Mahiro, Kyoshiro, Akira and Yuya, stood together at one of the classroom windows.

"**Two** couples?" Mahiro looked momentarily taken aback but then she said, "Oh. Of course. You mean Okuni." She sounded bitter.

"Well … yeah, I do." Yuya said, surprised at her new friends' tone. "They **are** together, right?"

"Kyo has girls, **many** girls, but never girlfriends." Akira spoke for the first time. "Despite of what Okuni or any other of his girls may think."

And at that, Akira turned to Mahiro and he might have glared at her if he hadn't been blind. Her jaw clenched and she dropped her gaze to the floor. The blonde boy bestowed the same 'look' upon Yuya, as if, she too, was threatening to become one of these girls he deemed so foolish.

"Oh, come on, you guys!" Kyoshiro interjected quickly. "Akira, Mahiro, you guys look like someone's just died!" He laughed. "Cheer up! Kyo's Kyo. Nothing's going to change him, trust me, I've had enough time to try! And if you're really looking for a man, take me!"

"Ah, but what about Sakuya-chan? I'm gonna have to tell her." Said Yuya, seizing the opportunity to lighten up Mahiro's mood, who still looked as though she was about to cry.

"But you wouldn't do that!" Kyoshiro cried. "Not after you'd have tried me out!"

"Which I am highly unlikely ever to do."

"Highly likely, I would say! I'm irresistible!"

"I'll be so kind as to not destroy your illusion, Kyoshiro-chan!" said Yuya mockingly and seeing Mahiro had apparently cheered upshe added "So Mahiro, what about coming over then?

"I'm going to come but not today. Anyways, I always visit from time to time, all of us do. The Mibu house is something like our haunt, isn't it?"

"Yeah, even cold Akira would like being Kyo's little brother, huh, Akira?" Kyoshiro laughed, putting an arm around Akira, who shrugged him off, scowling, but Yuya could tell he wasn't really annoyed.

She threw a look at the clock over the blackboard. Break was almost over.

"So, what's our next lesson, actually?" she asked, just as the bell rang.

"Maths."

The blonde slumped.

"Great." she sighed. "I'll just hope that the superior teaching techniques here'll stimulate my brain cells 'cause they've always been desperately slow when it comes to equations and shit…"

Yuya's brain cells, it transpired, were not to be roused.

"I should've known. I just don't get it!" she complained two hours later, as they left the room to head towards the cafeteria for lunch. The corridors were packed with students. "I'm a hopeless case!"

Mahiro gave her a stern look over the rim of her water bottle.

"Okay, okay!" Yuya conceded. "I didn't really try – But God, I'm hungry! You see, Mahiro, I know I'm beginning to sound like Kyoshiro, saying that, but concentrating on an empty stomach is hard! Kyo didn't leave me enough time to get anything done this morning!"

They were laughing as Kyo, Yukimura, Hotaru and Okuni came out of a nearby classroom and joined them.

"You're gonna have to get used to that, Yuya! Did he come and wake you up?" Kyoshiro asked. "Anyways, did you really think he'd drive off if you'd come too late? He had to take us all anyways and he would wait until you came, right, Kyo?"

The asked threw his brother a dark look.

"Only because I didn't want to see how much uglier Dogface'd look without make-up."

"Too true. Not everybody is blessed with such unconditional beauty as mine is." Okuni added, with a superior smile at Yuya, whose face was rapidly growing red with rage.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, bitch? Who's the one who's got to use a shovel to get her foundation off every night? And you, fuckface!" Yuya yelled on, rounding on Kyo, "Who the hell do you think you are? Got some kind of mental problem? I've got a name, it's Yuya!"

"Wow." Yukimura said with faintly disbelieving smile. "The girl's got an amazing lung capacity."

All around them, students had stopped to listen and were now staring at her, their faces echoing the disbelief on Yukimura's face but also showing amazement at Yuya's boldness. Defying Mibu Kyo was something most people in the school avoided. Hotaru alone seemed completely oblivious to what had happened and was staring dreamily into space.

Meanwhile, Kyo had walked on, quickly masking his surprise.

"Great!" Mahiro grinned at Yuya and held up her thumb. "I don't **hate** Okuni but … you know, she can really get annoyingly – "

"Obnoxious." Yuya supplied through gritted teeth.

When they had finally got into the cafeteria and found headed towards free table, bearing their food trays, Yuya pointedly avoided seats next to Kyo or Okuni, leading to her sitting between Yukimura and Hotaru, with Kyo directly opposite. She shot him a malevolent look and turned to Hotaru, not the best choice as she soon found out.

"Who are you?" Hotaru asked her. His voice was quite blank.

"Erm – We met this morning, remember?" Yuya replied uncertainly. "I'm Yuya Shiina."

Hotaru frowned slightly.

"Why are you here?"

"Well, I … um … live at Kyoshiro's house now. I'm in his class."

As his face still showed no sign of dawning comprehension, Yuya embarked on the whole explanation of why she now lived at the Mibu residence, which Kyoshiro had already given this very morning.

Hotaru cut her short halfway through the beginning.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"_What_? 'Cause … You – you were –"

But the blonde boy had already turned back to this food, although he made no attempt to eat it. Instead, he started playing around with a couple of matches.

Slightly nonplussed, Yuya turned to Yukimura who was laughing.

"Don't worry, Yuya! He does that to everyone! He's just out there." And he made a vague gesture towards the ceiling. "So how d'you like Mibu High school?" he continued. "Fancy a tour? I think you've got a free lesson after this."

"Oh, yes, I have! A tour would be great! Thanks!" Yuya beamed, surprised but pleased. Mahiro gave her a wink from across the table.

"Kyo?" Okuni was saying on the other side of the table. "How about me coming over to my house after school today? I'm going to miss you terribly at home … _all alone_ …"

To the blonde's delight, she heard Kyo say no.

"No?" asked Okuni, bewildered, letting go of his arm. "But why?"

He ignored her, his gaze fixed broodingly on his tray.

"Yukimura? I wanted to ask you … Are you the son of that candidate for the presidential elections?"

"Yeah, I am. We look alike, me and my father, don't we?"

"Yes, you really do! But I wasn't sure… God, I think I met more celebrities in three days than during my whole life!"

Yukimura and Yuya had only just left the cafeteria and were walking through the corridors. The boy chuckled at her exclamation. He seemed to have been laughing constantly since Yuya had met him.

"And I'm not sure, " Yuya carried on thoughtfully. "but I **think** I even saw Mahiro on TV once too … I don't remember why, though ..."

"Oh but you could have!" Yukimura exclaimed. "She comes from a family of bodyguards."

"A family of **bodyguards**?"

"Yeah, she's till in training, though. I reckon you might've seen her with the President's son, Hidetada Tokugawa – And this is the headmaster's office!" Yukimura added brightly, pointing at a door at the end of the corridor, reading 'Headmaster: Mibu Hishigi'.

"Oh, uh, okay." said Yuya, who had still not gotten over that last piece of information on Mahiro. "So you're saying Mahiro used to be **Hidetada Tokugawa's** bodyguard? You're kidding me!"

"Nah, it's true." he assured her. "He used to go to this school too, that 's why Mahiro came her in the first place!"

The girl's eyes widened.

"Really? Wow, I didn't know… "

They walked on and Yuya's joyful guide showed her the library, the teacher's room, the three computer rooms and the sports halls, which constituted a separate building, including a swimming pool. The school was huge and only now did Yuya fully appreciate the importance of it, what with the president himself sending his son there.

They finally arrived in the courtyard, a place so large and luxuriously vegetated it could almost be called a park; Yuya that found that rather surprising, seeing as they were in central of Tokyo. The smooth lawn was scattered with tables and benches and in the far back, high trees shielded the place from outsider's eyes. It was, now during lunch, milling with students sitting at the tables and in the shadow of the trees.

"But – Yukimura?" she asked and flopped down on the grass under a nearby tree. "Hidetada Tokugawa, has he changed schools? You said he used to come here before."

Yukimura, who had sat down next to her looked somewhat perplexed.

"But – didn't you hear? It's been all over the newspapers four years ago, he ran away from home! Fed up, I s'pose …"

Yuya had never heard of that. Of course, the year of his flight had coincided with the time of Nozomu's death and her entry at the orphanage. She had been too immersed in her own grief to take notice of anything else. And, to be honest, at twelve, she would've been woefully uninterested in something as remote as the President's son.

"So you've really never heard of this?" asked the Yukimura after she had explained that to him. "Well, he's been gone since and no one knows where he is now."

Yuya frowned, a bit astonished.

"But didn't his father try and find him? I mean, he's got, like, the whole police at his command, right? It can't be that difficult."

Her companion laugh resounded again, although it lacked a little of his usual mirth.

"President Tokugawa, look for his son? I guess he took the necessary measures to satisfy the public opinion. That suited Hidetada, of course … You know, he was never the perfect son. Could be quite an idiot sometimes, actually! " he added as an afterthought.

He smirked, stretched and pulled a bottle of beer out of his bag.

"Yukimura! **We're at school!** What **are** you doing?" demanded Yuya, startled but the boy merely laughed and started to drink.

The bell rang soon after that and Yuya and Yukimura made their way back inside, the latter perhaps a little more cheerful after the three bottles of beer he had emptied.

"So how was your little tour with Yukimura?" Mahiro asked as soon as Yuya had taken her place beside her.

"Hmm … Very **informative**, I'd say." she answered and then said, "You were Tokugawa Hidetada's bodyguard!"

"Oh, so you heard of that …" said Mahiro with small smile. Yuya thought she suddenly had a diminished, almost defeated look about her. "Well, yeah, I used to be. Before he ran away."

"Were you – close?" the blonde ventured.

She was unsure if she wasn't pushing things a little, but her curiosity had got the better of her. Mahiro looked away from her and into her geography book before she spoke abruptly.

"I haven't heard of him since, obviously he didn't think so."

Her tone clearly indicated she had no desire to discuss the subject any further.

Yuya's first day at the prominent Mibu High School had ended and found her waiting beside Kyo's car. Kyoshiro was going to sleep over at Sakuya's house and Yuya inwardly hoped Okuni would choose to use her own bed, in her own home. Accordingly, Kyo was alone when he arrived. On the downside, she now faced a one-hour drive home, alone with him.

"Kyo? Is there any other way of getting to your house than by car?" Yuya asked him as they drove off. "I mean something like a bus, perhaps?

"Why?"

"Because I want to avoid being exposed to your presence longer than necessary." she answered nastily. "So tell me, is there another way, or not?"

Kyo raised his eyebrows.

"No there isn't." He smirked. "So what're you gonna do now?"

"Kyo," Yuya repeated (she just loved saying his name, as much as she hated herself for it), "you are the most insensitive, full-of-himself, stupid guy I ever met and as there is nothing else that'll save me from having to endure your presence, I will have to borrow one of your cars."

_You have enough_she added in thought, pleased with her comeback.

"Kyo took his eyes off the road for the first time; his infuriatingly superior smile larger than ever.

"But I'm also the hottest guy you ever met."

Yuya crossly turned to the window and Kyo added thoughtfully, "And as to the car … Are you sure you can even drive?"

* * *

Ends kinda abruptly, that's because Chapter 5 is more like the second part of Chapter 4. Hmm, I don't really like this chapter It's kinda okay but then... Nothing really happened but I have to make some development before, I guess... I'll try and make the next one better to make up for it Read and review, as always. I need motivation!


	5. Alone with Kyo ?

Next chapter up!! I've sped up a little bit ... And I've finally found a moment to check my stats, telling me that this humble fic on the alert list of 8 people!! O.O Yayness! And I'm two people's fav author so I'm really honored On Kaeru-sama's from the start (good luck, again, for tomorrow!xD) and now on Kyo so Sexy's... So thanks again to all of you!! I'll do my best and will finish this fic ... it won't turn into a dead one...

Disclaimer: Samurai Deeper Kyo belongs to Kamijyo Akimine, not to me! behehehee

Chapter 5

Alone with Kyo !?

Once at home, Yuya had followed Kyo into his room, primarily out of a desire to pound his head with something as effective as would be a baseball bat but also to satisfy her curiosity.

"You like computers **a lot**, I see …" she said, a bit taken aback while trying to circumvent a motherboard (although she did not recognise it a such) lying near the door. "What is this anyway? Don't you ever clean up this mess?"

"What are you now? My wife or something?"

Kyo was already sitting at his computer and had uncorked a bottle of sake.

"Who told you to come in, anyway?"

Yuya ignored him and walked further into the room; despite all her caution, she almost fell over a long katana in its sheath. Eyes wide, she bent to pick it up –

"Don't touch it!" Kyo growled and there was an edge to voice that made Yuya recoil as though scalded.

"Do – do you use it? Is it a real one?" Yuya sat on the bed, still slightly bemused at Kyo's reaction.

"Of course it is. And yes, I use it."

Yuya couldn't help being slightly impressed although, she thought a second later, he was probably just boasting. She had yet to see someone who could equal Shirogarasu when it came to fighting with blades nowadays. But at that thought, her brain forced upon her the image of her brothers corpse, its torso cut cleanly in half, blood gushing onto the floor … She had seen someone who could equal Shirogarasu with a sword. Her brother's murderer.

"Kyo?"

"…"

"Kyo, did you know my brother?"

"No."

"And … anything about his death?" Yuya ventured. "The police never found a suspect. They've closed the case unsolved, you see. But I need to find him. The murderer."

The boy looked around from his code. She was lying on his bed now, looking up at him.

"And what're you're gonna do then?" he asked with a look of expectant incredulity.

"Kill him."

Kyo turned away from her, back to his computer screen. He was surprised at her answer; he had been thinking she was trying to get the police to reopen the case or something similar but Yuya was obviously more determined. "_The way she talks, it sounds like she did some killing before … Well, she __**has**__ a gun, for starterst._" Kyo thought and even if he was a **little** curious, he pretended otherwise.

"You'll have to find out for yourself, Dogface." he said coldly.

"You don't believe I'd have the guts to kill someone, right? For your information, I can. And it wouldn't be the first time." Yuya told him dryly.

Kyo didn't reply. She was interesting, that girl. Something new next to all those other rich ones he had known. She had killed before. There hadn't been a great chance of her not having done so, considering where she had passed the last four years of her life. Well, she was not the only one in this house with blood on her hands. He knew who had killed her brother and he was sure her desire for revenge would suffer a fierce blow, should she find out.

The computer suddenly hummed loudly and he banned the thought, making a mental note to replace his noisy hard drive the next time he had a chance.

"I'm going to find myself something to eat … I'm starving…" Yuya was saying. She had gotten up from the bed and was about to leave the room when she stopped. "Actually, where's the kit – "

She yelped, surprised. Kyo had closed a hand around her left breast while his second edged up her thigh, pressing her to his body.

"Wha - KYOOO! Get off me!" Yuya screamed furiously as she tried to shake him off, but his one hand steadily made his way under her skirt - _Kyo's hands were surprisingly soft as they explored her curves – _"LET GO!" The girl had wrenched herself out of his grip and turned, sending a blow flying at him. Kyo caught the fist, smirking. She thrust the other one at him and he caught it as easily as the first. Holding Yuya immobilised, he freed one hand by transferring her small wrist too the other, his eyes gleaming mockingly at her predicament. He came closer.

"Stop it, Kyo! Let go! LET GO!" Her scream wasn't enraged as it had been before but high and scared, almost hysterical.

His eyes widening in shock, he released her. She staggered away from him and there was still fear in those green eyes of hers.

"You – you – " she gulped. "You let … You didn't – do anything!?"

She sounded astonished, as if she had expecting something much different. Stupid girl, did she really think he would rape her? She was positively revolting.

Yuya was now quickly regaining her composure and all traces of fear went, to be replaced by outrage. A vein popped on her forehead.

"YOU ARE SUCH A SICK PERVERTED JERK!"

"_There she goes again … and I thought she was scared to death…"_ Kyo blocked out her yelling and went to inspect his sake bottles on the search for one still containing some of the precious liquid. Not finding any, he ordered her to bring him some more.

"YOU - What?" asked Yuya, cut short in her rant.

"You heard me, bring me some sake."

"What am I now? Some kind of servant?"

His eyes glinted mischievously.

"Glad you got there."

And her voice rose again, now that she had found a new reason to rage at him. Kyo sighed. He regretted not having checked his bottles **before** he had groped her. _Bad timing._ She had put on a good show of fear, he had to concede, actually getting to make him stop. Had it really been a show?

"You don't even know where the kitchen is anyway." he finally said and walked out of the room, knowing that she would follow him, although with much grinding of teeth.

"This house is abnormally large." Yuya remarked as they walked down the corridor were Kyo's, his brother's and Yuya's rooms lay. "I'm never gonna find my way!"

"That's 'cause your brain, among other things, lacks the part called a memory, woman." Kyo said as if he was explaining something very simple to a toddler. "Being stupid might help you get laid, though." he added as an afterthought.

"Oooh, you – "

Yuya began but she had yelled too much already to start again now and thus she fell silent, following him sullenly.

The kitchen was immense, almost as large as Yuya's room (which wasn't exactly small) and, as she found out, near the dining room. Its chromed surfaces gleamed dizzyingly in the afternoon sun pouring through the high windows.

"What're you gawping at, woman? Never seen a kitchen in your life?"

"I'm sorry, Kyo, but I do not happen to have a millionaire father!" Yuya flared up. "You know perfectly most people would react like that if they came here!"

"Yeah, yeah, okay … No need to yell like that …"

Kyo began rummaging around, looking for sake while Yuya stuck out her tongue at his broad back, glaringly aware of how childish it was. Then, a bit gingerly as the awkwardness, she had felt at dinner the day before stole over her again, she went over to the fridge, opening it and scanning its contents.

"Where is the damn sake?" Kyo meanwhile muttered, opening yet another cupboard and peering over Yuya's shoulder into the fridge at the same time.

As it seemed, only three things could truly arouse him into action: computers, his katana and sake. "_Oh yes and I forgot: making fun of me"_, Yuya growled inwardly. "_Great combination!"_

To Kyo she said smugly, "Nothing there!", pulled a plate of rice balls out of the fridge and went to flop down onto a chair at the kitchen table. "Perhaps you've simply run out of sake. Wouldn't surprise me."

"No." The boy growled. "It's that idiot Kyoshiro who hid it somewhere again."

Yuya raised her eyebrows.

"He's got **some** sense, then." she conceded. She popped an onigiri into her mouth, then added, "Ever heard of water? Try that."

The blonde was basking in his increasing irritation while happily munching her food and not wanting to give her even more satisfaction, Kyo fell silent.

"Um … Kyo?"

Yuya had started doing her homework while eating and sounded rather sheepish. There was an unintelligible reply from the pantry.

"I was wondering if, um, you could – help me?" Yuya continued and it sounded rather like a child asking for something after a telling-off. "With my math homework?"

Kyo emerged, without the sake, but nevertheless wearing his trademark smirk, full of vindictive pleasure. He could tell the girl had been hoping to avoid having to ask **him** for help. Kyo chuckled, he'd got her again. Raising his eyebrows, he asked in a mock surprised voice,

"Help? From me?"

The girl frowned. She hated having to ask him for a favour and of course, he wouldn't miss the chance to wind her up some more. He already had that maddeningly superior look on his face again.

"No, actually, I was asking the wall, Kyo." Yuya said.

"Ah, well, then, I'll leave you to it." replied Kyo, turning back to the pantry and superbly ignoring her sarcasm. "But I do hope you realise walls can't actually hear you, talk or least of all do maths."

"Kyoo! That was ironic! You know perfectly well I was talking to you! So – " Yuya took a deep breath, knowing he'd be sure to remind her of this for a **long** time. " **Please**, could you help me?"

"So, what's coordinate geometry, really? I don't understand the explanation in the book."

Kyo looked at the open textbook on the table and then at Yuya, as if she had just asked him what equalled 1+1.

"Woman, you are far worse than I thought." he said, shaking his head. "I don't know if you're skulls to thick to get anything through or – "

Yuya gave him a scorching glower.

"Kyo. You said you'd help, so do it! I won't learn if all you do is insulting me!"

"Coordinate geometry is the study of geometry using the principles of algebra." Kyo said to prevent her from going off again.

Yuya blinked. She had absolutely no clue what that was supposed to imply.

"Sooo - what does that mean?"

The boy sighed again.

"Coordinate geometry uses equations and inequalities to express geometrical figures like lines, circles and points. Understood?"

The girl frowned in her efforts to understand.

"Okay, so with it you can define lines using numbers or what?"

"Yeah, well, that's the idea." Kyo said. "For that, you use a system of coordinates, as you could have guessed if you knew what that is. Do you?"

If it wasn't for Kyo's repeated unashamedly scornful comments regarding her (in his opinion, lacking) mental capacities, Yuya could have considered him a great teacher. "_At least, the homework's done",_ she thought, back in her room and chatting with Mahiro on msn. Kyo had an address too, although he probably never used it. Yuya couldn't imagine him chatting when he spent more than half of the day in silence, glaring at people.

"Mahiro, what happened between you and Kyo?" she dared to type although she thought she had a pretty good idea of it.

Minutes passed without any reply, then Mahiro's answer appeared in a rush followed by a hasty, "Bye, see you tomorrow" and she logged off.

Thus, Yuya, who had been in the bathroom, wasn't left a chance to write back. _"So I was right,"_ she thought as se read the reply. _"He had her for a night and dumped her after that without a word. For Okuni. Explains Akira's behaviour … But how could he think I would - I mean, okay, he __**is**__ really hot but …"_

Remembering Kyo's touch on her bare skin earlier, however, Yuya quickly directed her thought into less dangerous grounds, like for example, trying out the hot springs Sakuya had told her lay behind the house. _"Yes much better, Yuya, Kyo is nothing more than an arrogant alcoholic pervert."_ The blonde sighed as she left the room in direction of the hot springs. Her new life announced itself to be everything but boring.

Outside, darkness was falling rapidly upon the Mibu residence.

A dark figure flitted through the trees and near the Mibu's garden wall, crouched down and appeared to gaze through a crack in it.

"So that's where the bitch's living now."

It was a man; his voice was low and raspy. He scowled at the brightly lit windows shining through the darkness.

The treacherous brat was going to pay. Someday, he had to concede. It would be futile, not to mention utterly foolish to try anything now. He was alone, for starters. Secondly, he knew things about the Mibus, she, along with most people, surely didn't know. The swish of a sword he could hear through the night air was proof enough, however. There were other things these people excelled at, except making money. He had to admit that with only Kurosasori and him, the chances of getting to her were pretty slim. "Bunch of fuckin' sissies." he hissed as his his thoughts turned to the others, too scared do anything. Who knew, perhaps she would come back one day, and then they would get her.

Throwing one last look of loathing toward the house, he disappeared among the trees.

"Kyoo! Kyoo?"

"_What does she want now?" _Kyo thought irritably. Tenro, his sword, slashed down in front of him. Pale pink sakura petals floated to the ground, cleanly cut it two.

It was growing to dark to train. He slid his one and a half meter- (5 feet) long curved sword into its sheath and started walking back from the yard strewn with sand at the far end of the garden.

Kyo had almost reached the house when something made him stop. He could feel a presence nearby. His acute senses told him there was someone lurking just behind the garden wall. A few seconds later, the stranger stole away again.

Kyo was walking along one of the elevated open corridors running along the outside of the house (A/N: I have no idea how they're called but I hope you understand what I mean) when Yuya's voice reached his ears again.

"Kyo! There you are!"

She had just turned the opposite corner and was coming toward him; her hair was damp and she was clad in a white yukata, having evidently just bathed.

"Er – what are you wearing?" she presently asked.

He was, in fact, wearing a long black white-collared kimono. He always wore that for training, he told her.

"For training?" Yuya's eyes slid down his arm to Tenro. "Oh. Okay. I was wondering where you'd gone."

Not listening, he grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him; Yuya looked up into his face, startled.

"Listen, woman." His voice was low and harsh and she stopped her fidgeting at once. "A friend o f yours was just there. Spying, I guess. I hope you aren't planning on double-crossing 'cause if that's the case, you're gonna regret it."

He knew immediately, from the stricken expression she had took on as the meaning of his words hit her that she had nothing to do with it. He released her and she stared at him, searching his eyes for proof he didn't really believe what he had just said.

"Who- who was there?"

"Do you expect me to know his name, woman?" Kyo asked scathingly. "Someone from your hood. Hiding in the forest. They've gone now."

To his surprised, she suddenly seemed more preoccupied than scared and muttered,

"Shit. Should have expected it, I suppose." She bit her lip. "I still have my gun …"

Then she lifted her head, for she had been staring at the floor, and eyed him angrily.

"How could you think I had something to do with it? I would never do that, d'you hear me, never! I've left Hell's Kitchen behind me!"

"I wasn't really considering it." Kyo said and Yuya looked relieved. "You couldn't have made any real damage, anyways, weak as you are."

And he walked on, pleased with his renewed victory at driving her up the hill, and true enough, she came running after him threatening to shoot him the moment she got her gun from her room.

No, life with Shiina Yuya, former Hell's Kitchen gang member, would be far from dull.

-----------------

Hehe so leave your reviews, they really help! Only a few days of holidays left and school starts again here in Germany ugh... Got a lot already written so I guess I'll be able to update fairly often though, perhaps a little less frequently, I'll see!


	6. Old and New

I KNOW, I know, I know ... It's been a long long looooong time! And I'm sorry! I apologize over and over again I'm writing you from underneath a pile of homework and exams which does not look as if it will diminish in the near future so ... yeah, long gaps between updates, I'm afraid. -.-

But here you go!

Disclaimer: SDK does not belong to me behehehe

Chapter 6

Old and New

The bell had just rung. Buffeted by the mass of students making their way into the cafeteria and the grounds, Yuya Shiina was looking for her new locker.

"_Number 177... WHERE the hell is 177!" _

Her arms laden with books and feeling decidedly uncharitable, she finally found it in one of the crowded corridors she had hoped to avoid. When she had finally cleared a way towards it, she found Hotaru opening number 178.

"Oh, hey Hotaru." she greeted him, not really managing to sound cheerful.

She dumped her books unceremoniously onto the floor in order to free her hands.

"I didn't know your locker was next to mine." Hotaru said vaguely, dispensing with a preliminary 'hello'.

"Well, yeah, it is."

The blonde, stuffed her things into her open locker and looked over into his.

"Um - Hotaru? There's nothing in yours … and - you don't have anything with you." she observed, eyebrows raised and wondering how Hotaru had got into his final year being so dense.

"Huh?" Hotaru's face turned back towards her.

He hadn't been listening, but peering down the corridor, were traffic was now beginning to thin out a little. He had obviously spotted someone because he hurried to stand behind Yuya, crouching low.

"Erm - Hotaru? Why exactly are you hiding behind me?" the girl asked, looking down at him and then craning her neck to try and spot the cause of his behavior.

"Hotaru!"

A boy, wearing a lot of blue, Yuya noticed, had emerged from behind a nearby locker door and was walking towards them.

"Hotaru." he repeated when he came to a halt in front of Yuya. "Stop hiding. I can see you." He sounded weary and seemed oblivious to the girl's presence.

"But I can't see you, Shinrei." Hotaru replied, staring at the wall and not budging.

The addressed frowned in exasperation.

"Of course you could, if you just turned your head. And you just did or you wouldn't be hiding. Now get out of there. I need to talk to you."

"You are talking to me. **I** don't want to talk to **you**. Talk to the wall, it won't feel you boring it to death."

"Hotaru!" Shinrei repeated for the third time, pretending he hadn't heard. "Hishigi-sensei wants to see you."

"Ah. I knew that." Hotaru lied.

"Well, why aren't you in his office, then?" Shinrei demanded.

His grey-white eyebrows pulled together when the orange-haired boy merely leaned against the wall of lockers, ignoring him.

A few seconds passed during which Shinrei seemed to debate on whether to go or lecture Hotaru some more. He opted for the latter.

"What have you done, anyways? Did **you** set fire to that bathroom? Do you know - "

Hotaru interrupted him, wrinkling his nose in disgust at Shinrei.

"I don't like bathrooms. There's to much water."

"Wha - So you did it?" Shinrei asked, watching Hotaru over Yuya's shoulder, outraged. "Hotaru! You can't just - "

"None of your business. You were only the messenger. Stick to your part."

Shinrei, seemed not far from howling in frustration while Yuya was following the proceedings, dumbstruck.

"Do you expect us to excuse everything you do?" Shinrei spoke quietly, in a carefully controlled voice, leaning forward. "Our family has a reputation to uphold! Hishigi-sensei, you have to respect him, he's in the Corporation. And we're part of it too, remember? We're already putting up with you hanging around with -" he hesitated,

"- the people you hang around with. You can't just go around, like some pyromaniac, setting fire to - are you even listening to me?"

Yuya was quite sure Hotaru had **not **been listening.

"You're scared, Shinrei, that's your problem." he drawled impassively.

And suddenly, Yuya hadn't even felt it, Shinrei was behind her too, nose to nose with Hotaru. Leaving her to stupidly stare at the place he had just vacated, the boy growled threateningly,

"You. Are. Seriously. Pissing. Me. Off."

"You're scared of fire, that's what's wrong with you." Hotaru carried on serenely, not at all surprised by Shinrei's rapid move. "You'd like to be like me, but you can't."

A vein had started pulsing on Shinrei's temple; his self-restraint was threatening to reach it's limit .Yuya chose the moment to step in.

"Right!" she bellowed loudly over Hotaru's 'You're weak, Shinrei, so leave me alone if you like life.' "Right! You guys, just SHUT UP!"

Shinrei's grey eyes slowly moved to find the girl's and fixed them haughtily. He was very goodlooking. Yuya wished her brain had chosen a different moment to supply her with that information.

"And** who** are **you**?" he asked.

She drew herself up, green eyes flashing defiantly.

"Shiina Yuya."

"Shiina?" The name seemed to remind him of something distant but he said, "You're the one from that sort of ghetto?"

He pronounced the word 'ghetto' as if its use could rot his tongue. She scowled angrily.

"So what if I am?"

Shinrei did not bother answering her question but his face told enough. Yuya's eyebrows shot up and she propped her hands on her hips.

"So what if I am?" she repeated, eyes narrowed, her voice as carefully controlled as Shinrei's had been a few minutes earlier.

He kept his silence and Yuya felt red hot anger boiling up inside. People here hadn't missed a chance of reminding of her Hell's Kitchen origins. She longed to show them all how dangerous it really was. How tough **she** really was. They wouldn't be talking so condescendingly if they'd witnessed a drive-by murder in broad daylight. This Shinrei wouldn't be feeling so damn full of himself if she got out her gun now and pressed it against his temple. It was difficult to resist the urge to do just that and Yuya thought she might have snapped if it wasn't for Hotaru somehow sensing impending disaster and pulling her back.

"So you're think you're worth more 'cause you live in a big villa, drive 15 cars and never used your hands in your entire life?" she chose to say loudly instead.

A small circle of onlookers had formed around them, attracted by Yuya's screaming. Hotaru now released her and she drew nearer to Shinrei.

"Just for your information," she jabbed her finger into his chest. "I don't give a fuck if you're rich or not, so you'd better drop your shit right now, or -"

Her finger hadn't left him when did the unthinkable. He kissed her. Right there, in front of everyone, he kissed her, an arm snaking around her waist and pulling her towards him. It tasted cool … like mint. She was too surprised to push him away and when she finally did, his lips had already released hers. She gasped and for the second time today, was lost for words.

Shinrei turned and walked a way, aloof, parting the laughing crowd, leaving her slightly breathless. The interest was gone now and the students rapidly filtered out of the large doors, spilling onto the green lawns. And there she was, staring stupidly after him, while she internally screamed at herself for letting this happen, for **enjoying**it.

Hotaru's voice intruded upon her mental self-flagelling.

"Why did Shinrei just kiss you?"

He sounded intrigued.

"I don't know …" Yuya said dazedly, slowly lifted her bag onto her shoulder and closed 177. "BUT HE'S GONNA PAY FOR THIS!"

Five minutes later, they were sitting outside, in the shadow of an enormous cherry tree and Yuya had calmed down as far a possible.

"Shinrei?" Kyoshiro was repeating over and over again, incredulous. "**Shinrei**? Kissed Yuya?"

Yuya did not bother answering him and Hotaru's attention had quickly faded. Beside her, Mahiro was watching her, dark eyes round. The blonde stole a glance at Kyo; he looked as remote as ever. Okuni was muttering something into his ear (probably along the lines of 'Shinrei! I thought he had better taste', Yuya thought angrily). Whatever it was, Kyo showed no reaction.

Opposite Yuya, Yukimura threw up his arms and she looked round.

"But you guys!" he cried. "No one's asked the essential question!"

This was met with clueless stares and Yukimura sighed heavily. He got up and swiftly sat down next to the blonde.

"Yuya." he said, putting his arm around her shoulders."The essential question is, **did you like it?**"

The blood rushed to Yuya's cheeks. Her hasty denials and embarrassed squirms deceived no one.

Another glance at the silent redhead. If this had happened a few months later, she would have noticed the slight strain around his ruby eyes and the corners of his mouth. As it was, she didn't and concluded he didn't give a damn. Oddly, she was slightly stung by this.

Kyo couldn't remember ever feeling threatened before. Unease and faint anxiety was also strange to him. Unattentivness fitted in nicely too. Yukimura had a small knowing smile on his smooth face which exasperated him even more. He had been waiting for the day the notorious playboy Mibu Kyo would go down.

Well, today was not the day for it to happen and neither was it tomorrow. Or in any near future. Never, Kyo liked to think.

Perhaps he had only changed tastes. Perhaps he should try blondes with green eyes from now on. Yes, that was it. There was nothing to fear. Stupid he had even thought that.

Yuya had somehow managed to channel her thoughts safely around both the abyss labeled Kyo and the whirlpool called Shinrei. She felt a bit bemused now, with at least half-a-dozen shopping bags dangling from her arms. Whn she had said she wanted to go shopping with Mahiro during dinner last night, she certainy hadn't expected Muramasa to give her any money.

"Waaa, I'm starving!" Mahiro wailed beside her. She was dragging a few bags too. "Let's go to McDonald's or something! Look, over there!"

She pointed to the yellow M sign a small distance awa. And as Yuya was quite hungry too and above all, exhausted, they crossed the street and entered the fastfood chain.

"God, my feet hurt!" Mahiro complained, craning her neck as they stood waiting in the long queue. The woman being served obviously had difficulties choosing her menu. "What the hell is she taking so long for? Why didn't she choose before?"

"Mahiro." Yuya said using a mock patronising tone. "Endure! You're supposed to be a bodyguard! Show some stamina!"

"Yeah, yeah, you shut up!" Mahiro said, laughing."I am **never ever **gonna go shopping with you again! I think I never bought as much today as I did in my entire life."

Yuya's rosy mouth pulled into a pout.

"Oooh, come on, Mahiro!" she pleaded "Who am I supposed to go shopping with if you're not coming? Okuni ?"

They both laughed at that idea. It was simply ridiculous to imagine.

"And as for never buying as much, " Yuya continued. "I never bought as much either, I never had enough money … It does feel weird, having so mu - Look at that!"

She had stopped in mid-sentence in favor a large poster hanging from the wall, depicting mounds of burgers. It read,

**ENTER OUR GRAND BURGER EATING CONTEST**

**and **

**WIN ¥250 000 **

This was followed by a date two weeks away and the address of the McDonalds restaurant were the tournament would happen.

Yuya was excited, thrilled, out of her mind and that was understating it. When they finally reached the counter, she immediately registered for the tournament, putting Mahiro's name under her own despite the latter's multiple attempts to stop her.

"Yuya! I will not do it! I won't show up!" Mahiro's long black locks rippled as she vigorously shook her head. "Don't say I haven't warned you!"

"Ooh, but, please, Mahiro-chan! That way we'll have on more chance of winning in case one of us dies! Puh-lease!"

They were sitting on one of the plastic tables now, tucking into their burgers. Mahiro sat there, torn between amusement and disgusted dissapproval, considering. Her friend was watching her pleadingly.

"Mahiro-chan! It'll be fun!" Yuya attempted again. "**And** there's the **money**!"

Mahiro did not miss the emphasis Yuya had placed on that last word. Money would not be **her **motivation to enter the tournament. Remained fun. Fun? She feared she did not remember the last time she had had any real fun in her life.

Bodyguard training had been tough. Being a bodyguard had been tough. And then, when Tokugawa Hidetada had disappeared, she had lost the very thing all her carefully monitored life had been leading up to. She was lost. Four years are a long time but what you have learnt for almost 14 years of your existence does not fade without a trace. She was lost. No one else wanted a teenage bodyguard like her. Only President Tokugawa had trusted her talents and she was sure that had ended now too. Who would ever hire a bodyguard who had let her principal dissappear?

These thoughts must have showed on Mahiro's face because Yuya stopped her begging, a slightly puzzled and concerned look in her eyes.

"Mahiro? What's wrong?"

"Huh? Nothing! What're you talking about?" the ex-bodyguard said quickly. She recomposed her features into a grin. "Okay - you got me, I'm entering!"

Yuya hurried through the rain to her car, pausing only to wave good-bye at Mahiro. Her hair was plastered to her head by the time she had reached its warm interior. She pulled out of the Ueda's drive and had soon left behind the neat neighbourhood Mahiro inhabited.

Circulation was slow in downtown Tokyo.Yuya couldn't keep herself from grinning to herself every two minutes, thinking of all the money she could win. There was something bothering her, however, which she couldn't quite put her finger on.  
It was Mahiro, she decided. The blonde had not missed the way her eyes had clouded and gaze dropped to the table earlier. Her fingers drummed the steering-wheel impatiently, while the traffic light stubbornly flashed red. She could still not imagine a girl like Mahiro being a bodyguard. Going shopping with a friend had seemed like an entirely new experience to her. _Time the girl has some fun._

The fact that Yuya seemed to have already forgotten Shinrei's impromptu kiss could seem strange to an outsider. The truth was that, in her mind, money simply outweighed such mundane incidents as a kiss from a friend's brother (because as she had learned, that was what Shinrei was). In Hell's Kitchen, everything was about money. At least four years of her life had revolved around it.

Tokyo was finally left behind and the black Jetta (all of Kyo's cars were black) sped towards the recluse Mibu residence. Yuya found the brothers along with Yukimura and Akira in the living room.

"You guys? Guess what!" she said as she entered and flopped onto the sofa next to Akira. "In two weeks, Mahiro and me will be **¥250 000 **richer!"

The number did not make any great impression on either of them. Only Akira seemed interested enough to ask how that was to happen. She told him and all of them, except Kyo who bestowed her with a mocking smirk, burst out laughing.

"Hahaha - Did I get this right?" Yukimura managed to ask through fits of laughter. "You and Mahiro are entering a Burger Eating Contest?"

"Yes." Yuya said confidently.

The boy shook his head in mock disappointment and with an apologetic look at Kyo, said,

"She'll be, um … highly horizontally challenged after that, you know… You sure you can handle that?"

The addressed sent his friend a withering look but stayed silent and took a long sip of sake, to hide his face.

"There is no way you can win this, Yuya-san!" Kyoshiro had unglued himself from the television set. "I should enter in your place. **I**will win for **sure**!"

"You wait! Mahiro and I will win. **Without** your help!" Yuya said firmly. "And without ending up** horizontally challenged**." she added acidly, glowering at the still chuckling Yukimura and left the room.

"What a sweet-tempered girl … "

The night was far from peaceful. Ghosts, fantoms of her past rose up from their silent homes and presented themselves to her soft, vulnerable mind in excruciating detail. Now that she lay asleep in her new bed, her new room, her new house, they claimed her back, not physically but mentally. Something had awoken them, stronger than ever after the years, unyielding.

_The schoolbus came to a halt in front of the house. She bounced out of it, toward the front door. She was not surprised to find the house empty. Nii-sama would be arriving, as always, a short time later. Yuya started preparing dinner, already smiling happily at the idea of Nii-sama laughing and ruffling her hair when she would show him her report card. _

_A key turned in the front door lock. Yuya put down the knife and hopped off the stool she had been standing on to reach the kitchen counter. She __**was**__ rather small, but that was no reason for Shinrei to call her 'midget' constantly, Yuya thought as she hurried through the dark hall. She could see Nii-sama silhouetted against the pane of glass set into the door …_

She could feel something pulling on her consciousness, her mind rebelling against what it knew would come next -

_Grinning happily, she ran the short distance left and wrenched it open. _

_Her eyes squeezed shut._

_A spurt of warm red liquid splattered her face._

_When her eyes opened again, they froze, wide, shocked. Her mind reeled, unable to grasp what reality displayed._

_Stumbling, she took a step forward onto the front step. Blood colored her naked feet. Nozumu was lying there, crumpled, face to the ground, his torso split in two. She had never seen that much blood. She wanted to scream but her throat constricted. _

The pull grew almost painful as she thrashed around in bed, fighting for escape.

_Yuya fell to her kness, right into the puddle of scarlet, Nozumu's head at her knees. Her hands groped around like lost spiders, trying to turn him around, see his face. A wheezing noise escaped her throat._

_And there, in front of her, a glint of silver in the streetlamps' glare, the blade. It's owner stood facing the street, his grip on the weapon weak. His small shoulder's were shaking._

"_No!" Yuya croaked and he spun around. Red, hot seering pain flared on her stomach and swirling darkness engulfed her._

Yuya's quick raspy breathing rang through the dark room. A scream escaped her when she felt the darkness pressing on her eyeballs, fearing she was still trapped in her nightmare.

Seconds later, the room was flooded with light when Kyoshiro and Akira came running in.

"Yuya? What's wrong?"

Kyo and Yukimura, ruffling his hair and stretching, were there too, in the background, she noticed after her eyes had adapted to the brightness.

"No - nothing, I'm f-fine …It was … only a nightmare …"

She managed to appease their concern with a few more feeble phrases and they reluctantly went back to their own bedrooms. Kyo was last to leave, pinning her with his ruby eyes. Yuya turned away lest he see the horror in hers.

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So tell me what you think! Not much action, hints or anything yet but I think I to make Yuya "at home" at the Mibu's first somehow You know, school, the different character's, Kyo!, normal things... Aaah, well, hope you enjoyed it!! And please, please, pleeeease review! Thanks!


	7. Change

Next chapter!! Finally ... Thank you for all you reviewers and to everyone who put me on their Favorite Writer, Favorite Stories and Alert lists! I would list all of you but its midnight so I think I'd better go and sleep

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Samurai Deeper Kyo.

* * *

Chapter 7 

Change

When Kyo entered the kitchen on Thursday morning, he found his father there, gazing out of one of the high windows. There was anything strange about that. Muramasa was an early riser and rarely had breakfast after the rest of the house's occupants. What he had to say today, however, was slightly out of the ordinary.

"You've received a message by now, haven't you, Kyo?" he asked Kyo after some time, still with his back to the room.

"You'll have to speak more clearly than that if you want me to understand you."

Muramasa turned around and watched his son with an amused smile.

"Come on, Kyo, you know exactly what I'm talking about," he said.

The boy shrugged and opened the fridge.

"Yeah, I have." he finally said while pulling out a bottle of milk. "From **Shinrei**."

"Shinrei?" Muramasa asked pleasantly. "Tell me, how is he these days?"

"Retarded." his son said and closed the fridge, perhaps with a trifle too much force than normally required to close normal fridges.

"Ah … well, some things never change … " Kyo's father remarked and sighing, he went to sit at the kitchen table. "But what has he done?"

"What should he have done?" Kyo demanded, sitting down across from him, holding a bowl of cereals.

"Kyo," Muramasa said, now positively laughing at his son's attitude, "you have always been bad at concealing your emotions - from me." he added after a look at Kyo's face. "So tell me, what did he say?"

Kyo shrugged again, annoyed by the little knowing smile his father wore and chose not to answer. Unabashed, the 'old man' watched him until he finally accepted defeat.

"_Hey, you." _

_Kyo's head turned slowly, very slowly, while he wondered which student of Mibu High School could have the affront of addressing him so carelessly. His face darkened as soon as he saw who was leaning against the car parked next to his. _

"_What do you want, Shinrei?" he snarled._

"_There's a few things we need to clarify." Shinrei answered seriously. _

_Kyo raised his eyebrows in scorn and casually went to position himself next to his own car so that they faced each other. He glanced around. The school parking lot was deserted. Perfect. _

"_That Shiina-girl." his opponent began and Kyo's eyebrows descended. "I hope for your sake and hers that she will never find out anything. We are prepared to tolerate the situation as long as she ignores the implications of her brothers death. Should she come to know anything, we cannot guarantee - "_

"_You sound like you've swallowed the rule book or something." Kyo interrupted dismissively. "Tolerate the situation? Never knew Corp to be so lenient, either. Looks like old Aka's lost his grip somewhat to me."_

_Shinrei's cheeks flushed with anger at Kyo's blatant disrespect._

"_Fool." he hissed, "Do you want her to die?"_

_Kyo smiled evilly, his eyes and hair glistening scarlet in the sun._

"_I don't think there's any danger of her dying in the near future." he countered. "Anyways, don't you think she might have **recognized**us by now?"_

"_We cannot help that." Shinrei promptly answered. "Should she have, then there is no real harm either. We used to go to the same school, so what? She can make nothing out of that lest **you **should tell her. **So you guys'd better keep your mouth shut." **_

"Hmm, Shinrei does not seem to be aware of how resourceful Yuya-san can be." Muramasa remarked after Kyo had finished recounting the incident. At this, Kyo only snorted although he wasn't quite sure who (Shinrei or Yuya?) he was intending to mock by that. He settled for both.

"So that's all he said?" his father asked and distracted him from the question.

"Yes."

Muramasa raised one quizzical eyebrow.

"Everything?"

"Everything." Kyo answered, wondering what his father was on to.

He put his head to the side still looking at Kyo, thus bearing a slight resemblance to his birds, those that spent their time ogling at Kyo every time he went out to train.

"So that's all he did?" he asked. **Again**.

"**What** do you want old man?" Kyo snarled.

He eyed his father suspiciously – it was not the first time that he got the feeling Muramasa was omniscient.

"Aah, I know you so well, Kyo. " the latter sighed but dropped the subject. "Well, I got a message too, a phone call - " his tone had grown serious again and Kyo let his irritation flow away to listen. "Although from a significantly higher level - the Aka No Ou."

Kyo raised his brows. He wasn't and had never been - even back in the days when his family had still belonged to the Mibu Corporation - one the Aka No Ou's admirers. Shinrei, however, followed the boss' word to the letter – like a lapdog, Kyo liked to think.

The Mibu Corporation was by no means some obscure organisation working in the background, making shady deals. No, everyone knew that its headquarters sat right in the middle of Tokyo's political district and that it was one of Japan's most powerful firms. What less people knew was that it owned almost half the country's industries. What even less knew was that if it wanted to, it was mighty enough to overthrow the government although it had, up to now, contented itself with manipulating it from the sidelines.

And then there was what no one except its most important members knew: it harboured some of the strongest, most ruthless killers in the world – and did not refrain from making use of them.

Kyo and Kyoshiro had been born into Mibu Corp and had sucked in the art of killing together with their mother's milk. Their training was cruel but thorough: after eight years of existence, they could end someone else's with one blinding slash of the blade.

"What did that bastard have to say?" Kyo asked.

"Oh, pretty much the same." Muramasa said. "Only that he thought Yuya-san might know something."

"Know something?"

"Know something about the Corporation. You know why Nozumu-san was killed, don't you?"

Kyo gave a short, almost exasperated nod – of course he knew! - and waited for his father to elaborate.

"Well, they think he might have transmitted information to Yuya-san before the Corporation got to him." Muramasa concluded.

Kyo felt the anger filling his chest like hot lead and his voice had a steely edge to it when he spoke.

"And what are they planning to do?" he asked and noticed yet another new feeling – fear, icy, creeping into his mind through a gap that had never been there before – or perhaps he had just never noticed it ?

"Nothing for the moment" Muramasa said calmly. "As it seems, the idea has been dismissed after a report Shinrei filed about Yuya-san."

Muramasa watched the tension slowly drain out of his son and although Kyo regained his stoic appearance quite professionally, they both knew there had been cracks in the armour.

Both father and son sat silently until the latter got up to leave the kitchen a few moments later.

"Take care of Yuya-san" his father sent after him.

_As if he wouldn't._

Something loud came trampling into Kyo's room; it was most probably blonde and dog-faced too. He stepped out of the bathroom annexed to his room and almost instantly, there was a sharp intake of breath from the door, confirming his previous assumption.

Yuya had come to – to what, exactly? Her mind felt suddenly quite empty. To be exact, it had begun feeling that way when she Kyo had come out of his bathroom. A black towel loosely draped around his hips exposed his tanned torso; she couldn't help focusing on the way his muscles profiled under his skin. The towel hung so low she could see the tip of his hip bones.

Entranced, she did not notice how he had settled to leaning in the doorway, watching her, his usual cocky grin on his face.

"You likin' what you see, Dogface?"

The red shot to her cheeks an she quickly averted her eyes. His smirk grew wider still. Slowly he drew nearer until they were less than half a meter apart. She held her breath as his head tilted downward -

"Drool." Kyo said and pointed at the carpet at Yuya's feet.

"What?" she asked, confused.

He rolled his eyes.

"Drool, Dogface. You were drooling."

"Was not!"

"Perhaps I should get dressed so as to save my carpet?" he asked, his voice full of malice.

"I was **not** drooling!"

Kyo only pointed at the floor again – there was one, small dark stain there. Next to an open sake bottle.

"Grrrrrrrrrr, Kyo, you're such an asshole, could you just for once stop making fun of me?" Yuya bellowed as he went to open a drawer and pulled out a pair of boxer shorts – black of course. "For once in your goddamn life, could you just be nice? Perhaps it's you who has a problem," she pursued shrewdly when he didn't respond. " Perhaps you feel bad about yourself and that's why you have to be awful to others to vent out your frustration!"

"Aaah ... how dazzlingly acute of you - there's only one problem with your little theory, " Kyo said, contained laughter almost ruining his sarcastic tone. "I'm perfect."

Yuya only huffed at this and threw herself onto his bed as she always did when she came into his room.

Kyo let the towel slip down from his hips onto the floor and saw how Yuya quickly hid her face, which had grown bright pink, in the blankets. Chuckling, he put on his boxers, sat at his desk and turned on the computer.

"I've got a maths test in a few days." Yuya said after some time, remembering what she had come for. "Could you help me?"

He grunted and she took that as a yes. When she came back from her room with her course book she gingerly pulled a stool next to his and sat. Immediately, his scent filled her nostrils, musky, manly; the same one that lingered on his bed and clothes. She loved it. His attention was still on his computer screen and unconsciously, her body curved nearer to his. When he finally turned, she hastily jerked back, feeling slightly inebriated.

"Why can't Kyoshiro do this?" Kyo asked ungraciously.

"Because he's at Sakuya's house." Yuya replied. "Besides, he's hardly got more clue than I do."

"Hn. That wouldn't be to difficult, though." Kyo said, rubbing his forehead and taking a swig of sake.

"Ha ha ha. That wasn't funny."

"You want me to help you or not?"

"I ... want you to help me. " the girl conceded grudgingly.

"Then shut up, activate that lonely brain cell you've got and listen."

Okuni's fingers ran through his hair, down his back, underneath his shirt, came to rest on his chest ... Abruptly, he turned away and stopped her kisses. Her hands left him; she drew back and looked up at him questioningly.

"I'm going." he said, got off the couch and went for the door.

"Going?" Okuni asked and stood up too. "Aren't you gonna stay the night?"

But he left the room without answering her question and Okuni stayed were she was, listening to the sound of his footsteps crossing the hall, shocked because what she had thought would never happen to her was doing so right now. Then, slowly, she went to stand in the doorway of the living room Kyo had just left. It opened onto the small hall of her apartment so that she could see him, his back to her and his hand on the door handle.

"It's because of Yuya, right?" she asked quietly.

Composed, she waited for his reaction and any onlooker to the scene would have wondered how **any** man could choose to leave when a woman like Okuni so obviously wanted him to stay. Even now, her mouth curved wistfully, she seemed the height of perfection, standing there in a long white nightgown draped loosely around her body. She seemed the very symbol of the geisha whose every smile, pose and bat of eyelashes was aimed at seduction.

Kyo, however, was hardly **any man.** He had grown weary of her like of any other woman. Simple enough. He surely hadn't **loved** her. And yet, when Okuni pronounced that particular girl's name, he halted and mentally cursed himself for doing so. Disguising his reaction from her would be impossible.

"Dogface? What about her?" he demanded at length, when he was sure his voice would carry enough indifference.

But Okuni was not to be fooled. She had learned to read is every movement, during all those years she had adored him, as she still did.

"You like her, don't you? I know you, Kyo, there's no need to deny it."

Kyo scowled.

"Leave me alone, Okuni. You bore me."

If he had hurt her with this, she didn't show it, but he surely had because, he knew, she loved him beyond reason. He still could not fathom how love could make you truly happy, when at the same time it made you so vulnerable, when with a few words, the other could tear you to pieces and leave you miserable and broken.

Okuni watched the door close behind him and cursed herself for being foolish enough to think she had been the one. He had left her as easily as any other.

_Well, then, Yuya-san ... I hope for you that you are the one ... _

Saturday morning. That dream again. It pursued her relentlessly, every night. Yuya turned on the shower to the highest possible temperature and let the water cascade over her sweaty body.

It was almost as if her subconscious wanted to show her, make her realize something. Trouble was, all she remembered when she snapped out of sleep every night was the sight of her brother's mangled body.

And yet there seemed to be something else. Something she was obviously to dumb to spot, Yuya thought angrily. If she only just got there, the dreams might stop.

She stepped out of the shower and dried her now fiery red skin. Still scowling, she slipped on a pale blue yukata, left the bathroom and grabbed her cell phone from her desk.

"Kyo-chan!"

Now who the hell was **that**? A frown already forming on his forehead, he slowly opened his eyes. A girl was leaning over him, her long blond hair tickling his cheek. She was naked. Suddenly recalling who she was and why she was there, he shot her an irritated look and swiftly left the bed.

"Kyo-kun?" she asked, eyes widened and a pouting.

Kyo ignored her and crossed the room to awaken his computer from sleep mode. He glanced over his shoulder at the girl and his scowl deepened. She hadn't even pulled the covers over her body to hide her nakedness. _Not that he would have minded if the person in her place had been -_ He let the air hiss out through his teeth in annoyance and forbade himself from finishing the thought.

"Woman," he said. "Get dressed and go."

His words seemed to have stunned her for he didn't hear her move. Aggravated, he turned and repeated his sentence. She (he didn't even remember her name) slumped, her eyes filling with tears.

"Hey, Tora – It's Yuya."

"I knew that." came Benitora's stiff answer.

Yuya sighed and sat cross-leggedly on the floor in her room.

"Hey, look, man – please, I just wa - "

"You just wanna what, exactly?" he asked and although his tone was cold, he couldn't keep her from guessing the hurt underneath.

"Talk. I just wanna talk."

"Look, Yuya, I ain't got no time for this, " Tora said and there was the sound of his apartment door snapping shut. "We're busy here, you know, I ain't gonna get no money from doing nothing. But you wouldn't under -"

"Now listen, Benitora!" Yuya bellowed, sprang up and started pacing the room, infuriated. "Can't you just give me a break? I don't like the way you found out about the whole thing either but that's the way it is, okay? I still want you to be my friend though. Hell, yeah, I love money but that doesn't mean imma ditch you for it, I thought you knew that! Even Chaz was real great about it and - "

"Ooh, yeah, Chaaz." Benitora said pointedly.

Over at the Mibu house, Yuya stopped short.

"**Oh, yeah, Chaaz** - " she mimicked. "Just what is that supposed to mean?"

For a few seconds there was silence, then he said, in what she felt was an unnecessarily accusatory tone,

"Well, I know what happened that one night after the Overdrive ... between ... you and him."

"So what?" the blonde immediately asked although her insides seemed to squirm with embarrassment. "That was ages ago! Don't tell me you're jealous!"

"But I **am **!" he said earnestly and Yuya rolled her eyes. "I love you, Yuya! We're made for each other!"

"Benitora, stop."

" ... we could build up a life together, we could - "

"Benitora!"

"... I have it all planned out, the wedding, the ... "

"**Benitora!"**

The girl's voice now carried so much foreboding anyone but Benitora – who jabbered on, lost in his romantic vision – would have wished her a good-day and hung up as quickly as possible. Perhaps if he had been able to see the way her eyes had narrowed to form devilish cat-like slits he would have thought better of it. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't.

"BENITORAA!"

Yuya's scream rang through the house.

"Uh – oh ... I feel sorry for Hidetada ... "

Yukimura chuckled, threw the bottle he was holding into the air, caught it again, took off his shoes, crossed the wide entrance hall and headed into the direction of the yelling. A few weeks ago, he had managed to get hold of a key to the Mibu house (a feat no other would dare accomplish); it did help to have a little ninja like Sasuke in the family.

Yukimura had not got far, however, when he was met by a young girl carrying a purse and hurrying down the corridor.

"Now who do we have here?" Yukimura asked, peering at her curiously. The girl stopped and lifted her head. His eyes moved to take in her wet face, the hastily thrown on clothes ...

"Aah." he said softly.

He put an arm around her twitching shoulders, and steered her back the way he had come. She readily accepted the bottle he handed her.

Kyo had left his room for what he planned to be a short stop in the kitchen and then a very long one in the living room in company of a bottle of sake. That girl had overstretched his nerves with her sobbing and pointless accusations.

'Pervert', 'Jerk', 'Bastard'.

He didn't mind Yuya calling him that, her rants and his insults and occasional groping had slipped into normality during those few days she had spent at the Mibu Residence. Occasionally, it was even amusing. To him, at least._Perhaps you should have thought of that before bringing that girl,_his brain lectured him.

After leaving Okuni the day before, he had stopped at a downtown bar. She had been sitting a few seat away from him, casting him covet looks every now and on a mere whim, desirous to prove to himself he had conserved his notoriety, he had brought her home with him.

"You betrayed me! You used me!", she had told him.

Betrayed. **Please**. His full lips curled disdainfully. Had he promised her anything? How could they all be so incredibly stupid and **naive**? **Of course**, he had used her. Women -

"**Oh, yeah, Chaaz** – Just what is that supposed to mean?"

The door to Yuya's room was ajar and her voice floated through it into the corridor. Kyo stopped to see her standing with her back to him and her cell phone pressed to her ear. He could see her in the mirror facing her, eyebrows raised high, one hand on her hip, waiting for an answer. Her reflection's cheeks flushed crimson and she bit her lip, visibly embarrassed.

"So what?" she was saying now, sounding a lot more confident that she looked. "That was ages ago! Don't tell me you're jealous!"

There was a short pause and her face fell in irritation.

"Benitora, stop."

Benitora! So she was talking to him. He sniggered quietly and carried on. _Benitora, the weakling, _he thought but a smile slid across his features. She probably had no idea who he was._And you've got no idea who that Chaz guy is_, Kyo's snide brain told him.

When Kyo finally entered the living room, he found Kyoshiro there, sitting on the rug in front of the television and doing homework.

"Another word for someone you know, a friend or a ... a " he was muttering, biting on his pen.

"And now our star guest, today, you all certainly know him, Tokyo's 'Bachelor of the Year' and -" the ecstatic and slightly breathless talk show host was shrieking, straightening her top. Kyo grabbed the remote from Kyoshiro's side and the screen went black. He shrugged, casually let himself fall into a sofa and rested his legs on the coffee table.

"Acquaintance."

"Acquaintance?" Kyoshiro frowned, mouthing the sentence he was going to write, then his face lightened up. "Yup, that works!

There was a long stretch of silence while Kyoshiro finished his essay and Kyo glared into space, then he asked,

"Where's the old man?"

"Dad, you mean?" Kyoshiro closed his notebook and rummaged around in his schoolbag. "He's on a business trip for a few days."

"Hn." His brother frowned, then took a swig of sake.

"Kyo! It's early morning and you're drinking ... Tut tut tut... It's time someone blows some sense into you!"

There was moment of dumbstruck silence while the two brothers stared at the person that had just spoken.

"**Blows** some sense into him?" Kyoshiro finally repeated incredulously. "**Blow**?"

Yukimura, for he was the new arrival, bounced into the room and went to sit on the second of the three sofas.

"Kyoshiro, your mind seems to work in a curiously sex oriented way, don't you think?" he asked cheerfully.

Kyoshiro scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly, mumbled something that resembled "**Blow** ... any guy with a working (unintelligible word here) would have thought - " and changed the subject :

"What are you doing here, anyways? How did you get in? I didn't hear you ring."

Yukimura laughed.

"Got a key!" he said, and twirled it teasingly around his finger.

"Idiot" Kyo growled.

"I just had to walk out one of your victims." the raven-haired boy remarked, let the key slip into his pocket and grabbed one of Kyo's bottles, watching him out of the corner of his eyes.

"**Excuse** me?"

"Aaah, you know who I'm talking about!" Yukimura said cheerfully. "That blonde chick. I drove her to the next bus stop."

Kyoshiro looked up from his math.

"Blonde chick? What blonde chick?" he asked eagerly.

"I have to say, she's not that bad, " Yukimura went on, giggling in this feminine way only he could achieve without seeming gay.

"Out-of-bounds for you, though, Kyoshiro! But really," he continued, turning back to Kyo "She does not compare to our magnificent Yuya-san, don't you think?"

But Kyo stood up and left the room, leaving the question to hang, unanswered, between Kyoshiro and Yukimura. Both smirked.

This had gone thoroughly wrong. Bringing that girl with him had only given him more reasons to accept things had changed. It was no wonder, Kyo thought as he walked walked down the corridor leading to the kitchen, that the girl he had picked had been blonde. And green-eyed. Besides, the night had not even been enjoyable although the girl had been much better endowed than Dogface. He hadn't been able to prevent himself from substituting the girl's face by Yuya's, her body, by the parts of Yuya's he had explored once and those he only imagined, the feel of the girl's skin by Yuya's, which he knew to be so very soft. And even so, he had not been able to enjoy it for it had left him with unextinguishable yearning for the real Yuya.

He reached the kitchen, glanced into it and came to a halt in the doorway. She was there, leaning against a counter, one hand curled around a steaming mug of tea. She had his back to him and was staring out of the high windows. Clad in her morning yukata, her whole posture was smooth and her face, which he saw reflected in the glass, softened by reminiscence. She was beautiful like that. His gaze slid down her spine, to her rear and then to her long, firm, calves. Maybe the change wasn't so bad after all, he thought with a small smirk.

What was on her mind? He thought of the nightmares and the smile slid of his face. She had stopped herself from screaming after the first night but he knew they were still there. She acted tough but he knew that every night she transformed back into that scared little girl, as helpless as she had been four years ago. And he cared more than he would have thought could.

Or was it Benitora she was thinking of? Or ... Chaz? He felt his muscles tense at the name. Expiring slowly, he relaxed and finally entered the kitchen.

At the sound of his steps, Yuya turned, her face still relaxed albeit slightly melancholic, he thought.

"Morning, Kyo." she said, and smiled.

"What were you thinking of?"

Her eyes widened in surprise. Clearly, she wasn't expecting to ask or to even want to that. Kyo himself could not quite remember deciding to ask the question.

"Um ... Just, stuff ... you know, ... " her voice trailed off uncertainly.

Kyo grinned and drew nearer, so that she would have to tilt her head upwards to meet his eyes but her gaze dropped to the floor. He took a strand of honey-colored hair and twisted it around his fingers. She let him and he admired its silkiness as it slid through his fingers.

"Not, by any chance, Chaz?" he asked provocatively and her face finally jerked up to him, astonishment written all over it . Her cheeks were rosy and he grinned because he knew that his touch had caused it.

"How do **you** know - Hey! You listened to my phone call!"

"That Chaz ... he showed you ... **things**, right?" Kyo asked, ignoring her yelp and putting a bizarre stress on the word 'things'.

Yuya did not answer, she knew her expression carried too much truth for her to disguise it by words.

"I don't know how far he went ... " the red-haired boy continued musingly, looking down at the hair spilling over his hand, and his voice sounded somewhat deeper than normal.

Yuya kept her silence. Her thoughts seemed to wade through quicksand and hoping to produce anything coherent now seemed simply utopian.

Kyo flashed a wide grin.

"But **I'm** gonna go much further." he concluded, his face dipped down and his lips made contact with hers. Yuya's startled eyes were opened wide but her eyelids closed as she felt his lips move against hers and they were soft, so very soft ... Kyo pulled her closer, she was pressed against his chest and her arms moved upwards to snake around his neck, willing him to continue, to hold her even closer although the heat he radiated was stifling... They stood there wrapped around each other and their kiss deepened, each immersed in the other, all her thoughts swept away.

When Kyo finally broke away, it felt like an eternity had passed. Slowly, Yuya's eyes fluttered open to see him looking down at her lips, one arm around her waist and the other hand still in her hair. Her mouth stood slightly open and she quickly closed it.

"Could be better but, " Kyo licked his lips. "he did an okay job, I guess."

"What are you talking about?" Yuya asked, who the kiss had left in kind of a light, sweet torpor.

"That guy ... You're not exactly a **good** kisser but at least he's shown you the basics." Kyo said, smirking in a maddeningly superior way and disentangled himself from their embrace so that the blow she aimed at him merely stirred his red bangs.

* * *

Sooo???? How d'you like it? Hope you enjoyed it ... Please review to let me know and so I know what to improve! Yeah, so finally, some more KyoYuya action Was it fine? I wasn't sure about it but some of you wanted more of it (and me too!) so there ... That's why updating took so long too, I wasn't sure if it wasn't a bit too soon in the story or... well, I dunno... And yeah, I know, the drool-thing is typical but I had writer's block! I'm not really happy with that part.. Oh well, let me know what you think! 


	8. A Lonesome Path

First of all, I apologize for the very veery long wait! You've probably all forgotten my story by now Thanks to all the reviewers of the last chapter and thanks to

_Celestial Raven, Emmaline Troy, Kaeru-sama, Kookie-chan, LelaCross, LipsRecords, ShadowWolfy, Silent Sinner Abella, embargo, hotarusgirlforever, inuyashlovr, ipperne, luna-magic-2005, peckforever, saku-chani, starlight-set me free-, zeniko_

_for putting this story on their Favorites list:D_

Chaper 8

A Lonesome Path

She should have known, Yuya thought, sipping on her now almost cold tea, that Kyo would find a way to spoil even a moment as delicate as the one that had just passed between them. He was watching her smugly from where he sat at the kitchen table. She huffed and instead turned her attention to Kyoshiro, who had just come barging into the kitchen.

"Morning, Yuya-san!" he said brightly and skidded to a halt in front of the fridge, which he threw wide open. "Guess what, Yukimura's invited everyone over, Mahiro, Akira, and Sakuya's coming of course."

"And since when does that idiot think he can invite people to **our** house?" Kyo growled and scowled at his brother as if it was his fault.

"I dunno," Kyoshiro said unabashed and moved inspect the contents of the pantry. "But who cares? It'll be fun! Sasuke and Bon are coming to, so you'll finally get to meet them Yuya-san."

"Oh, really? Great! I've heard so much about them." Yuya said enthusiastically, ignoring Kyo's glares.

She was indeed looking forward to meeting Sasuke and Bontenmaru, the first being Yukimura's younger adopted brother and the second an old schoolmate of Kyo's who had dropped out of Mibu High School some few years ago. It was him Yuya was most curious to meet. Whenever he was mentioned – although he called Bon a stupid moron – Kyo wore that smile people get when reminiscing about a friend they have lived their craziest moments with.

"Yeah, well," Kyoshiro continued. "I'm not sure Hotaru's coming, though ... I don't think he got what Yukimura was telling him. Or maybe he just wasn't listening. Anyway, Okuni definitely - "

"Okuni?!"

It was more of an outcry than a real question. Startled, the boy cut off and looked round at the blonde whose eyes had snapped over to Kyo. But from his face, there was nothing to gather. Indifference was all she could discern and so she dropped her gaze.

**Okuni**. Of course. How could she have forgotten? She should have known that her role was nothing but that of the whimsical sidekick while Okuni's ... Yuya had never known herself to be that stupid, naively throwing herself into Kyo's arms, all thought and care blown away. Only a few days before, she had heard of Mahiro's deception and yet behaved as naively as a three year old. Somehow she had managed to unconsciously harbour the hope that Kyo would actually like her – the very phrase sounded so ridiculous now. It had been a mistake to even allow herself to think of Kyo in any 'string-attached' way.

Belatedly, it registered with Yuya that Kyoshiro had started talking again, telling her that Okuni was **not** coming, and all her thoughts came to a halt.

"Um, yeah, well obviously it's not surprising she didn't really feel like it ..." he was saying, obviously thinking her exclamation had been one of worry about Okuni.

"What? Why not?" she asked, sounding rather aggressive.

The boy looked taken aback for a moment before the reason behind Yuya's reaction finally dawned on him. He gulped and glanced at his brother. The air seemed tight with the tension Kyoshiro had unwittingly created.

"Well, she ... " he began, cursing his slowness but nevertheless feeling quite angry at Kyo for putting him into this position.

Right now would be the moment for him to step in and just tell her instead of sitting there acting all stoic and tough. How could his brother be so damn conceited and timid at the same time? This was a rhetorical question; Kyoshiro knew his brother to well not to know that Kyo's pride was keeping him from talking. Admitting that he had left Okuni implied he had done it because of Yuya and that, Kyo could never, ever be expected to say out loud.

Kyoshiro sighed, shaking his head in a let's-just-give-up-he-will-never-learn-anyway kind of manner and said firmly,

"Actually, it's because Kyo broke up with her on Friday."

"Oh." For an instant, Yuya's eyes stood wide with disbelief until she turned to Kyo and her lips drew into a soft, silent smile. The two brothers met eyes. Kyo gave a small, grudging nod and Kyoshiro grinned. _I saved your ass this time, brother. _

Yuya, now widely smiling, took her mug from the counter and raised it to her lips, completely oblivious to the fact that it was now stone cold. For a long moment, the three kept their silence.

"Oh and Yuya-san," Kyoshiro finally added, unable to resist the temptation. (After all, for what he had just done for Kyo, he deserved compensation, didn't he?) "I'm really sorry but we can't invite Shinrei, you know, our families don't get along that well and all. But of course, since you seem to have a " he marked an artful pause "... special connection with him -"

Although Yuya glared at him, the corners of her mouth twitched. He had teased her about that particular episode very often that week and besides, she felt much too relieved to scream at him right now – which did not mean he was dispensed with a (tiny) rap over the head.

"Ouch! Sorry, Yuya, I was only kidding!"

"Serves you right!" Yuya told him but she was laughing.

"Yuya-saan?" Kyoshiro interrupted her, poking her in the side. "Look at Kyo's face ... "

Sure enough, Kyo wore an expression that could only be labeled as murderous.

"Aah, leave him alone, Kyoshiro!" Yuya replied loudly, green eyes glinting mischievously. "He's just pissed 'cause someone was quicker on the uptake than he was!"

A few hours later, when night had fallen around the Mibu House and all one could see of Tokyo were thousands of specks of light, the doorbell sounded and Mahiro and Sakuya arrived.

"Mahiro-chan, Sakuya-chan!" Yukimura cried when they stepped over the threshold empty handed. "You haven't even brought anything to drink!"

"Yes, I am happy to see you too, Yukimura!" Mahiro laughed and slipped out of her shoes. "You know perfectly well I'd be dead and buried if my father ever caught me so much as touching anything containing alcohol. I won't be drinking anything tonight, anyway!"

"That makes us two." Sakuya smiled.

"Three. I'm not drinking either. Two alcoholics in the house are enough!" Yuya corrected, sticking her head through a door in the back of the entrance hall. "Hey, Mahiro, Sakuya!"

"Oh. And here I was hoping to get you girls drunk enough to make out with me." Yukimura pouted and his fake disappointment made them all laugh.

"But look at the bright side," Yuya said, still chuckling. "You guys will need someone to drag your unconscious bodies into bed once you've drunk yourselves under the table. Anyway, when's your brother coming? I can't wait to meet him."

She need not have asked since doorbell rang right after her question, revealing a disgruntled-looking Sasuke.

"What's taken you so long?" his brother asked, pulling him into the house and closing the door.

"Mum wouldn't stop fussing over me because its dark outside and the chauffeur had to drive Dad to some place so I had to take the bus." he replied in an aggravated tone and took of his shoes to put them next to Mahiro's. "It's like she still thinks I'm five, I mean, there's not way I'm going to get kidnapped or something."

Yuya raised her eyebrows; in her opinion, Sasuke's mother was quite right to worry. He was, after all, only twelve years old. But then, she had already got the impression his ego was large enough to stand at least second to Kyo's.

"Oh, so you're Yuya Shiina?" Sasuke remarked, looking round and surveying her critically. "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, that's me. Nice to meet you too, Sasuke-kun!" Yuya smiled.

There were two persons in the living room with Kyo when they entered. One was a coarse-looking, imposing young man wearing a wide grin and a white t-shirt that stretched rather tightly around his muscled chest. His right eye was hidden behind a black eyepatch and Yuya wondered if this was his style or if he was really blind. The second person was Akira.

When the giant Bontenmaru spoke his voice seemed to fill the entire room and his joviality only increased when he noticed Yuya, whom he took a lively interest to. She was soon treated to a hundred and one tales of his greatest exploits, the most important of these being how he had ditched school and opened his own bar in downtown Tokyo, which of course was met with thousands of difficulties and obstacles.

"And then, I'd just bought the place, I hear all those car arrive, so I went out to look and you wouldn't guess who was there!" Bon said and watched at her through his one twinkling eye.

"Uum, I don't know, perhaps - " said Yuya, whose attentiveness had slipped away at some early point of his story. Akira came to her rescue although Bontenmaru rarely noticed his audience's lack of interest anyway.

"Let me guess, the koancho?" he asked in what was clearly a sarcastic tone.

"No!" Bon looked triumphant. "The CIA!

His two listeners rolled their eyes and looked at each other in common exasperation.

"Don't ask, don't ask! I know you guys wanna know exactly what the **CIA** had to do with a **me**, so no fear, because I'm gonna tell you!" The giant said with the air of a man giving out a big treat to a couple of children.

Meanwhile, the others, who knew Bontenmaru too well to pay any heed to his ramblings, had spread out across the living room and were watching a horror movie.

Sasuke, lying on his stomach with his head cradled in his hands looked bored.

"What the hell, this is so fake, blood doesn't spray all over the place like that." he said, staring at the widescreen television. "This sucks. Blood normally - " he went on but was abruptly cut off when a cushion, thrown by Kyoshiro, landed on his head.

Kyo, who had passed the time quietly sipping bottle after bottle of sake, surveyed the scene with an amused eye until he noticed an item lying on the floor.

"Oi midget!" he called. "I see you've brought your sword?"

Turning away from the fully-fledged cushion fight that was now going on, Sasuke scowled at him.

"How old are you now, eleven?" Kyo drawled. His gleaming eyes were fixed on the sheath lying on the floor near Sasuke's side. "You think you've actually got a chance of beating me?"

The boy jumped up from the floor and grabbed his sword.

"You want to keep on talking or get your ass outside and fight?" he asked confidently.

Kyo grinned and got to his feet. "At your own risk, midget."

Yuya, Yukimura, Kyoshiro and Mahiro, fully involved in their cushion fight, only noticed the two had left when Sakuya and Akira pointed it out. Looking out of the window, saw the two figures striding across the garden, each with their swords resting on their shoulders.

Yuya stared at their silhouettes for a moment and then back at her friends. She was rather alarmed when she saw the excitement in Yukimura's face, but then, one couldn't be sure if that wasn't due to his inebriated state.

"What are they doing? They're not gonna fight, are they? Not with real swords?" she asked.

But her friends were already filling out of the room and heading towards the wide glass doors opening onto he garden. Only Sakuya had stayed behind and smiled at the startled girl.

"Come on." she said, pulling Yuya after her. "Let's go and watch."

The training field, hidden as it was behind a dense thicket of trees in the back of the park was plunged into darkness. At its edge, where the sand-strewn ground subsided into short grass and earth, sat Mahiro and Bontenmaru on a pair of large, flat boulders, while Yukimura, Akira and Kyoshiro stood beside them.

The two girls, Sakuya leading Yuya, walked along the edge of the field and joined the them. Bon grinned at Yuya and offered them his seat. Sakuya sat but Yuya felt too resless and remained standing, her eyes, like those of the rest, fastening on the scene in front of them.

The two swords, Kyo's long one and Sasuke's shorter one glistened in the feeble moonlight that filtered through the clouds. Their faces, however, were indiscernible as they stood squarely opposed. Only Kyo's eyes seemed to gleam crimson like hot coals, fixing Sasuke like those of a predator and dancing with flame-like excitement.

Yuya shuddered and felt a strange sensation of déjà vu. Looking at round at her friends, she saw that their features contained no hint of worry or surprise. Beside her, Akira was still smiling while Bon was taking large, drawn out gulps of sake. Nevertheless, the air held a quiver of anticipation that did nothing but fuel her anxiety.

Meanwhile, on the field, Kyo grinned although it more closely resembled a baring of teeth.

"Scared ?" he asked and his voice seemed several octaves lower than usual.

He received no answer. Sasuke bounded forwards and dove onto the immobile Kyo, his blade splitting the air with a long whistling hiss. The distance between metal and skin was shrinking fast while Yuya's disbelief and horror grew. This little twelve year old boy couldn't seriously be intending to –

The attack seemed inevitable now and she had to force herself to keep looking. Kyo, who had left his blade dangling nonchalantly at his side until a few seconds ago, suddenly brought it streaming upwards in a large fluid motion and the two swords collided in a clear clanging of metal.

At the sideline, Yuya felt the muscles of her jaw unclench and noticed she had been holding her breath.

"What the hell are they doing?" she exclaimed angrily. "They're crazy!"

Bontenmaru only laughed but Akira put his hand on her shoulder in a reassuring gesture.

"Don't worry about them. Just watch. Nothing can happen."

Yuya found this difficult to believe but the fight went on and she was captivated. Sasuke had fallen back at the impact, not surprised in the least by his opponent's impossibly quick reaction. Kyo flashed a smirk.

"My turn."

They both took of this time, plunging towards each other a breathtaking speed. The swords swept and hissed through the darkness, occasionally shining brightly when light fell on their thin, curved surfaces; arching upwards and plummeting down again, sometimes grazing but never meeting their goal while the fighter's movements interlocked and parted again time after time, again and again.

Yuya stood and watched in fascination, with Akira's soothing hand still resting on her shoulder. Kyo's long mane of hair streamed after him when he rushed forwards, gleaming red in the occasional light.

He was beautiful. She had never imagined him to move so gracefully and yet still diffuse that power and strength he held, exude it even more strongly than he normally did.

Neither of the two seemed to be able to force the other into defeat although they sometimes sent each other taunting comments and smirks. And so it came as a surprise when Kyo's sword suddenly eluded Sasuke's block and sped sideways towards his exposed neck. It was too late for any counter-move. When the blade halted, only millimeters separated it from Sasuke's skin.

Kyo gave him a gloating glance, pulled back his katana and slid it back into its sheath.

"That wasn't your full force." the boy remarked quietly, imitating him.

"Wasn't yours either." Kyo gave back in an equally low voice. "Use it next time and you might even be worth killing."

Their eyes met and glinted with malice.

"Don't you think this was going a bit too far?"

Only Kyo. Yukimura and Akira were left at the training field as the girls had gone to take a bath and Bontenmaru had challenged Sasuke to a Need For Speed game.

Akira, leaning against a nearby tree, his face tilted towards the sky didn't seem to be listening but the raven-haired boy, sitting on a boulder beside Kyo, was watching him, waiting for an answer.

Unwillingly, his red eyes shifted to return his look.

"What do you mean?" he asked gruffly.

Yukimura lifted his eyebrows. "You know exactly what I mean. This fight with Sasuke. Don't you think it might ... aah, bring back old memories?"

"So what if it does? I really couldn't care less." Kyo drawled.

His friend let out a soft laugh but did not respond. Behind them, Akira awoke from his reverie, attentive now. Kyo, whom Yukimura's silent mockery irked more than words would have, was glowering at the ground.

"Where did you say she lived when you found her?" the boy finally asked.

"Hell's Kitchen?" The redhead eyed him suspiciously.

Yukimura sighed. "From one Hell to another then, don't you think – Kyo ?"

Kyo glared at him, the boy was seriously beginning to irritate him.

"Spit out what you've got to say, Sanada."

"What will she do, I wonder" Yukimura continued, feigning to stare into the distance but watching his friend out of the corner of his eye. "when she finds out she lives under the same roof with her brother's murderer?"

Yukimura had barely closed his mouth when Kyo swung around and grabbed his shirt collar.

"You will never, ever tell her that, do you hear me, Yukimura?" he growled and the fury in his voice was unmistakable.

"But Kyo, of course I won't!" Yukimura said brightly, beaming at him. "Anyways," he went on evenly when Kyo had let go of him. "It's not like any of us are innocent in this, is it? After all, the Mibu Corporation has left its mark on all of us ..."

Kyo did not answer. When a few moments ago, he had said he didn't care about what Yuya might come to remember, he had lied. At the beginning, he had thought her to be similar to the rest, thought her to be merely a construct following a blueprint so many others were built from. But that wasn't true. Her nature intrigued him; it resisted his scrutiny, he had found he couldn't place a label on her like he could with most people, storing them in a category that would reliably define their thoughts and actions.

In spite of himself, Kyo smirked. He was glad his father wasn't around to divine his thoughts.

She screamed and raged at him like a little schoolgirl when he taunted her and dared hit him when he went to far. She had told him she would avenge her brother, she had told him she had killed and her green eyes had held an amount of determination he would never have expected there. He had seen her fear when she had thought he would rape her and he had seen her laugh with gleaming eyes.

He had felt her lips on his and drowned.

Kyo was incapable of foreseeing Yuya's reaction to the truth, to **his** real nature, to that of all those new people she had met through him. Not that that was his reason for keeping her in the dark. No, the search for truth, Kyo knew, is a lonesome path and only when it ends, is the right time to know, never before.

Yuya would reach it soon enough.

* * *

_koancho_ : Japan's Public Security Investigation Agency 

The chapter title sucked I have to say. Hmm, this chapter was a bit longer than the other one's I think.. Perhaps a bit too long? Or perhaps that's just how I feel about it, somehow, this chapter was difficult to write for me... Had lots of times were I just sat there and nothing would come out -.- writer's block, I guess.. Ah well, to make up for the long wait, I'll write the entire next chapter in the next to weeks (Easter holidays at last:D ) and update when I come back! Review please and thanks for reading, it really means a lot to me.

_Ja ne !  
_


	9. Old Times Revisited

Hehe, I'm proud of myself . Took me only two weeks to update, that's a record for me :P Well, thanks for your reviews and favs and alerts, you guys are the best! huggles I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Chapter 9

Old Times Revisited

Mr. Aka's office was spacious and well-furnished, with a wide desk of polished mahogany, large and soft armchairs and full bookcases that lined the walls. Light came from a series of high windows set in the window behind the desk.

Most of the time, the great boss of Mibu Corporation was alone there. Only rarely could other businessman penetrate into the luxurious room, the heart of the firm. Today, however, the office was full of people. They were standing on one side of the desk, all looking alert and expectant. On the other side Mr. Aka was sitting so deeply inside his armchair that his face was concealed in the shadows.

Among his five visitors was Shinrei. The rest consisted of a colossal man with a white crew cut, a second one, skinny and grinning, looking almost marionette-like next to the first and two women in smart tailored suits.

For a moment, Mr. Aka merely gazed at them steadily but the five did not seem fazed by this. They waited patiently until he finally spoke in a voice so seamless it seemed there was no rupture between his words and the silences that followed them.

"Shinrei" he said and the addressed looked, if possible, even more attentive than before. "You spoke to Kyo, didn't you?"

Shinrei nodded. "Yes, sir. I did."

"You also filed a report on Shiina Yuya?"

"I did, sir." he said, silently wondering where this was supposed to lead.

Mr. Aka slowly nodded to himself and then said,

"I, for my part, have spoken to Dr. White."

"To Dr. White, sir?" Shinrei asked, unable to conceal his confusion.

"Yes, to Dr. White, Shinrei." his boss repeated in an expressionless voice. "And as a result of my conversation with him, I have changed my mind."

The other four exchanged variously puzzled and startled looks but remained silent and waited for him to elaborate.

"Um ... Changed your mind, sir?" Shinrei chanced.

Mr. Aka shifted in his seat and leaned forward. His face was now visible and it was a peculiar one. Its oval shape, the thin, long slanting eyes and the small mouth that curved into the shadow of a smile all conveyed an image of delicacy that conflicted with his position.

"Dr. White told me that traumatic events can often trigger partial memory loss" he said. "Partial but not irreversible memory loss. In fact, these memories often come back after a few years or even less and also, when outside factors remind the person affected of what they have forgotten."

His words hung ominously in the air between them until a sharp voice disrupted the moment.

"So she could pose a threat after all?"

One of the women had spoken, the one with the chin-length black hair and the stern eyes.

"Yes, Saishi." Mr. Aka relied calmly. "Although only to a certain extent. We do not know enough about her to be sure - "

Saishi opened her mouth to speak but he went on before she had the chance to do so and so she closed it again.

"- A situation that can easily be remedied, I am sure, by Shinrei." Mr. Aka was saying, reverting his attention to the grey-eyed teenager, who was standing at the center of the group. "Keikoku, of course, would have been perfect in his current position, but I doubt your brother's loyalities still lie with us."

"I am sorry, Aka-san." Shinrei apologized for his brother and feeling the utmost ire at the fact that Hotaru's behavior even forced him to do so. "I have tried to speak with him but he wouldn't listen."

"Well, that was to be expected." Mr. Aka began, his voice suddenly carrying a hint of steel.

"Let us cast that aside." he went on, sounding normal again. "Seeing as you made sure our dear Shiina-san was provided with an _especially stimulating_ outside factor, it will be necessary to keep a close eyes on her in case she remembers anything."

Shinrei hung his head, very much aware of his mistake. "I apologize, Aka-san." he said, his head still bowed. "It was thoughtless."

"All of this could have been avoided if we had disposed of her straight away!" Saishi exclaimed, visibly aggravated.

"Of course it would have been." Mr. Aka said. "But unnecessary attention would undermine our workings. We try not to kill too much, don't we?" While his smile remained as angelic as ever, his had eyes narrowed coldly. It was a disturbing combination.

Saishi showed every sign of replying but then decided otherwise and clenched her jaw shut and glared at the floor.

"Yes, it was indeed _very_ thoughtless of you," the boss said sternly to Shinrei as if there had been no interruption. He smiled widely and continued "But you'll be happy to find that you can make up for your mistake because you are going to be the one keeping an eye on her."

At these words, Shinrei straightened. This was the opportunity to make up for his mistake. "As you wish, sir. I will not disappoint you"

"Good." Mr. Aka leaned forward and his dark irises fixed Shinrei's light ones. "_You had better not_."

* * *

It was Monday afternoon and Yuya and her friends filled out of their history classroom. While Kyoshiro, Mahiro and Akira each set off to another lesson, the blonde, who had chosen different options than the other three had, found herself looking forward to a free one.

She decided to begin the history assignment they had just got. As she needed to do some research, she went to the library and was soon immersed in dates, facts and events.

"Now who do we have here ..." someone suddenly said and Yuya felt a waft of well-known perfume envelop her.

Unwillingly, Yuya looked up into Okuni's smiling face and made herself ready for an irritating conversation.

"I'm surprised to see you too, I have to say." she gave back. "I mean, you? In a library? You sure studying won't damage your skin?"

"Oh but I'm not here to read, Yuya." Okuni said sweetly and took a chair opposite Yuya, her annoying smile still plastered on her face.

The girl groaned and looked back down at her textbook but finding that the presence of Okuni's breasts in her field of vision was rather off-putting, she looked back up with a grimace.

"No, I was actually going to warn you." Okuni went on and Yuya raised her eyebrows so high they threatened to take her eyes with them. "Kyo has never kept a girlfriend more than a week, that is to say, until he met _me_."

"Wow. Now what am I supposed to do now, congratulate you?" Yuya asked loudly, her voice soaked with sarcasm. The library lady shot her a warning look and she continued in a scathing whisper. "Oh no, hang on, I forgot he'd broken up with you Friday."

Okuni ignored her. "Yuya." she said as if speaking to a child. "Be objective and compare yourself with me. Do you really think you stand a chance?"

The girl opened her mouth and then closed it again. Nothing she could think of saying would not sound childish or simply pathetic.

"You're delusional." Yuya finally hissed. "Fact is, you're the one who got ditched so what's all this about? What makes you think I even care about all this crap?"

"Oh Yuya, don't lie to me." the diva opposite her said. "Of course you care. Anyway,_watch your step_."

And with that, Okuni swept out.

Yuya plunged back into her essay. She was clenching her pen so hard the paper deformed itself while she wrote. Stupid slut, she thought and mentally reeled off all the other words that could possibly describe Okuni. That and historical facts, however, did not make a good combination and Yuyya soon found that the paragraph she had just written was utter crap. She tore her sheet in half and took a new one.

The essay was two sides long now and nearing its end when Yuya felt yet another person approach her table. She raised her head in aggravation, half-expecting Okuni to be back, but she was wrong. This time, it was Shinrei.

"Shiina-san?" he asked, looking serious.

Yuya frowned. "What do **you** want?" Yuya demanded while some part of her brain told her how unreasonable it was to be angry at someone for kissing you, especially when the kiss had been as enjoyable as Shinrei's had been.

"Just ask you to accept my apology." he said quietly, sounding almost submissive.

"Oh really?" she asked, quickly masking her surprise by arching her eyebrows expectantly.

Shinrei bowed contritely and his silver-grey bangs swung forward and covered his eyes. "Again, I apologize it was stupid and thoughtless." he said, almost repeating the words he had said to Mr. Aka just a day ago.

He raised his head and nodded at her. Then, he bent to pick up his bag, turned and sat down a few tables away. He pulled a book out of his bag and started reading.

Yuya stared at him, her eyes narrowed in bewilderment but moments passed and he did not look up, only pausing to jot down some notes on a piece of paper. She quickly dropped her gaze to her own work, half-annoyed, half-intrigued. He took no further notice of her while she sat there, finishing her essay, something that irritated her to no end. What kind of apology was that? But her anger at him kissing her had ebbed away and after returning the library books she had used to their shelves, she went up to Shinrei who was still reading in his corner.

Hidden behind his book, Shinrei smiled quietly. His little stratagem had worked.

"Shinrei?" she asked.

"Shiina-san." He looked up and quickly laid down his book. "Is my apology accepted?"

That surprised her. She had thought he believed the matter done with.

"Oh. Um .. Yes, of course. It's okay, don't worry about it."

Shinrei smiled and bowed his head again. "Thank you, Shiina-san."

The bell rang.

"Yeah, right.. You're welcome. Really, it's not a big deal." Yyua quickly said, her bemusement complete now. "Well, she went on. I've got class now, soo ... See you around.

She turned, walked down a row of shelves and left the library. This was going perfectly.

The last lesson of the day had ended; Yuya said goodbye to Akira and Mahiro and crossed the car park.

On a whim, she had decided to visit the house she had lived in with Nozomu until four years ago. The thought had come to her today, during math class, while dwelling on the dreams of his murder that kept on coming to her. Perhaps she would even find some clues, Yuya had mused, although she knew that was unlikely. After all, the police had combed through the entire house and had probably used all the evidence they had found, that is to say, if they had found any. Besides the blood-spattered doorstep, her brother's body and her wounded self there had not been a lot to find.

During these last four years, Yuya had realized there was actually a lot she herself did not know about her brother. And then there was also this haze that always seemed to cloud the memories of her life prior to his death. Only the night murder stood in her mind as vividly as ever.

Because she had come in Kyo's car, she would have to take the subway. Yuya had reached the entrance gate when she heard someone call her name. She stopped with some surprise when she saw Shinrei running after her.

"Shinrei! What's up?"

"You're not going to walk home, are you? Do you need a ride?" he asked.

Yuya smiled. "Thanks, but I'm not going home, I'm taking the subway." she said and began turning towards the exit again.

"Oh, right. So where do you need to go? I can still give you a ride." he called.

His persistence amused Yuya. She laughed and turned around again.

"So you're saying you're going to drive me wherever I want to go? Don't you need to be somewhere?"

"Well, no, not really, I've got time." he said, and smiled. "Come on, you don't really want to take the subway. They're always late around here."

Yuya deliberated. She wasn't intent upon having him with her when she visited the house. If she had wanted _anyone_ with her, she would have asked. Then again, Shinrei was right about the subways and she did not like those stuffy, claustrophobic underground tunnels anyway. What's more, she wouldn't have to pay the price for a ticket. After all, the fact that she didn't have to anxiously watch her wallet anymore, did not warrant her to squander the money unnecessarily. The enmity Shinrei had with the Mibus did not bother her. With Kyo's constantly condescending attitude and his ego, he was bound to have a lot of enemies.

"Okay, you got me convinced." she said brightly. "Let's go."

They got into his silver car and pulled out of the school parking lot.

"So where are we going?" Shinrei asked while they waited at the traffic lights of the large intersection that lay near Mibu High.

Yuya gave him the address, telling him she used to live there but nothing about her brother. He nodded and when the lights turned green, took the direction that would lead them to Setagaya. He was lucky to have intercepted her today, he thought with satisfaction. She was visiting to her former home. Of course, there was not the remotest possibility she would find anything there. The place had been purged of any evidence that connected this case with the Mibu Corporation. They had their agents in the police for that. The only thing Shinrei would have to watch out for were tell-tale signs of memory recovery since it would be difficult to find a plausible reason to keep her from going at all.

Neither of them talked while he drove. Yuya was staring out of the window, visibly in thought. She looked vulnerable in this state, far from her usual fiery self. Her green eyes were blank and their shine had dulled. Shinrei concentrated on the road. This was not the time to develop any affinities for the girl, no matter how much compassion she may induce or who she might remind him of. He would not fail his boss, it was bad enough Hotaru had. No further dishonor would stain their family.

When they had arrived at the house and climbed out of his car, Yuya bowed slightly. "Well, thanks for the ride, Shinrei."

"You're welcome." he smiled, then took on an uncertain air. "You sure you don't want me to come with you ?" She frowned and the boy quickly went on "I mean, the new owners might not be nicest of people."

Her forehead still creased, she looked at the small, two-story house. It sure looked like somebody was living there. The front garden lawn looked lush and green and freshly mown. The five windows set in the facade were clean and on the second floor one of them was open, its pale yellow curtains fluttering in the light breeze.

Now that Shinrei had mentioned it, Yuya realized how foolish it had been to not consider this. This was the first time she laid eyes on this place in four years. It caused her a slight painful twinge in the stomach-region to see it so familiar and yet so obviously strange. She had simply assumed it stood empty, awaiting her return. She smirked at her own stupidness but her forehead smoothened. It was not an insurmountable problem, she would simply have to be as polite and as a last resort, look as pitiable as possible and hope for the best.

"And you'll need a ride home." Shinrei said, hoping that this would convince her. He knew how difficult it was to get to the Mibu residence through the public transport system.

Yuya turned away from the house and raised her eyebrows at him. "You're gonna hang around here with me until I'm done? You _sure_ you haven't got anything better to do than visit the old house of some random girl?"

"I just thought I'd pay you back for that kiss I took from you without your permission." Shinrei said so seriously that she burst out laughing, which was the effect he had hoped to achieve.

"Still thinking about that, are you?" she teased, chuckling. She tilted her head to the side, thought a moment and then said "Well, come on, let's try those new owners out then."

Shinrei followed her to the front door. There was a new plaque there, reading Kasai. It was slightly smaller than their old one had been, Yuya noticed, as it was framed by portions of lighter wood that had once been covered by the bronze one reading 'Shiina'.

She removed her attention from the plaque and pressed the doorbell button. At first, their was no reaction from within. Yuya stared down at the doorstep, wondering if microscopical particles of Nozomu's blood still clung there, unseen. Just when she was about to look up and tell Shinrei they had best leave, the sound of movement penetrated through the door to them. Someone was descending the stairs. A few seconds later, the door opened unto a tall woman with bubble-gum pink, waist-length hair and clad in a long, flowing bathrobe.

Shinrei's face flickered in shock before he could prevent it. Of course, he had not expected a Mibu agent to live in the house as was sometimes the case in particularly sensitive matters but to find one of _them_ there ... The Corporation had to be very sure the place was clean if surveillance was that lax.

Akari's face had split into a huge smile. If she had recognized him, she at least showed no sign of it.

"You must be the lovely Shiina Yuya I've heard so much about!" she cried. "Come in!"

"Uh ..." said Yuya, rather dumbfounded. "I – How do you know my name?"

Akari's smile stretched even further. She was very beautiful. "Why, has Kyo never told you about me?" she asked as she led them through the hall and into the living room.

It was very different from the room that was suddenly sharp in Yuya's memory. While her image of it was a warm, comfortable, cuddly room, with a few bookcases, a soft couch and a fuzzy rug, stepping into Akari's living room was closest to walking into a page of a high-end furniture catalog.

The couch was creme-colored and elaborately curved into half a circle. On the wall opposing it hung a wide screen plasma television screen. The walls were hung with various posters and paintings, most of which were modern art. Near the window was a large, green pot plant and on every available free space stood various room decorating articles.

"I am Kasai Akari and ... Kyo's true love and future wife!" Akari exclaimed and gestured for them to sit on the sofa.

"Ah." Yuya nodded slowly, keeping herself from rolling her eyes, while Shinrei tried to disguise his derisive snort into a cough. "Um ... So, you know the Mibus?"

"Yes of course," Akari said brightly, still standing. "We are long-time friends, I'd say. Tea?"

"Oh, yes please, if that's not to much trouble."

"Of course not, just wait a second, I'll be right back."

She went into the adjoining kitchen and soon the clattering of cups reached their ears. Akari came back, bearing three steaming cups on a tray which she set down on the coffee table.

"So, what can I help you two with?" she asked when they had each drunken a few sips of the hot beverage.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the blonde quickly said, suddenly remembering her purpose in coming here. "This is Shinrei."

The boy beside her bowed slightly and Akari responded with a bow of her own although her eyes narrowed. Internally, she cursed. If that was indeed Shinrei - and there was no reason for him not be - she should never have let him in. Ordering him out of the house now would seem odd at best. She would watch him closely, Akari decided. After all, the best way to protect oneself against enemies was to keep them close, wasn't it?

"Actually, I wanted to ask you a favor." Yuya went on. "You see, I used to live here four years ago and I kind of wanted to visit the place again. Of course, only if you don't mind."

Akari's smile softened and the blonde was sure she knew what had happened four year ago.

"Of course I don't mind, Yuya." she said. "Go on, I'll be down here if you need anything."

"Thank you."

The girl inclined her head toward Akari and rose from the sofa. She looked at Shinrei but he simply nodded and said, "I'll stay just wait down here too. Take your time."

Yuya stepped out of the living room, back into the hallway and started up the stairs where hers and her brother's former rooms had been. She was glad that he had shown tact and left her to explore the house alone. A slow, melancholic smile curved her lips when she heard the ninth step creak under her weight as it had already done when this house had still been her home.

She arrived on the landing and pushed open the door nearest to the stairs. Her room. As it seemed, it now served as a guest room. A single bed stood in the corner opposite the door, with a small bedside table and a lamp next to it. On the other side were a small chest of drawers, a few shelves with a selection of books and a large armchair.

Yuya crossed the room and sat on the bed. What had she expected? That everything would look like it had before? This house was not a museum, she scolded herself, to be revisited at her leisure and fancy. It was nor hers nor Nozomu's anymore and what she remembered could do little to change that.

Her vision blurred with tears that rolled down her cheeks and into her lap. She tried to imagine her sixteen year old self living here, with her brother still alive but it did not work. All she could see was the younger Yuya, safely tucked into bed while her brother told her one of his stories in a quiet voice, as if she were the only one allowed to hear it. How could it work, when it was his death that had lead her Hell's Kitchen, a place that had molded her into someone her brother would never have raised?

She recalled the time when Kurogarasu had handed her a gun for the first time and she had actually been shocked they expected her to use it. Her brother's face had sprung clearly to her mind and she had collapsed into a heap after her first kill.

Yuya lifted her head, slowly got to her feet and wiped her wet face. She was intending to leave the room when her gaze fell on a picture frame that lay, face down, on the dresser. The blonde drew closer and, while she debated on whether it was right for her to take a look at the picture it contained, saw an inscription on its back. It read _'Summer, 2004'. _She gasped upon recognizing her brother's neat handwriting and excitedly turned over the frame.

It was a photograph of her and her brother, both looking up at the camera, their cheeks pressed together, buoyant. The lanterns suspended across the velvety, deep purple sky bathed their faces in faint red glow. They were surrounded by a bustling mass of festival-visitors.

She looked down at it wistfully, sighed and, taking the frame with her, Yuya left the room. Why had this photograph still been there, she thought, puzzled. Why would Akari keep it in her guest room and on such an obvious spot of all places? And why, in the first place, had it still been there when she had moved in? All their other belongings, save those that Yuya had taken with her to the orphanage, had been carted off to some charity or sold. The revenue, incidentally, had never reached her and had most likely stayed in the hands of her greedy orphanage director, she thought angrily, before it occurred to her that she had run away before the person had had any chance of giving it to her anyway.

She opened the door to the second room, Nii-sama's room. It was obviously Akari's room now, her taste was clearly recognizable. Yuya walked around the room, thinking perhaps the woman was keeping another one of her heirlooms in this one, but to no avail.

Looking at the door opposite the bed, the one that led into Nozomu's former study, she thought she could not understand why she had never asked where he actually worked. Perhaps it just hadn't seemed important to her back then, even though he used to spend long stretches of time in his study, working on his computer. It could be that the young Yuya had asked _what_ he did but had never bothered to memorize the name of the firm, if indeed he had told her. He must have been some form of accountant, she thought, straining her memory. A blurred image of his computer screen displaying series of numbers and letters floated to her consciousness. Or a stock broker. Or a programmer? Yuya shook her head; she had no idea and laying hands on their old computer after so much time would be next to impossible.

She stepped into the adjoining room and felt her jaw drop. She had just walked into the largest and fullest dressing room she had ever seen.

She had not found anything new, after all, Yuya thought to herself as she climbed down the stairs, but was happy to have come anyway. She had the picture now, a rare item for her as she had had to leave a lot behind, she had cried a little, she had commemorated her brother and this was something she had always wanted to do. By the time the summer began, the blonde decided, this mystery would be solved. She would visit her brother's grave on the day of his death and she would tell him his murder had finally been avenged.

It had to be.

* * *

Sooo? What do you guys think? Do review, 'cause I feel like this chapter is chapter is (at least) a partial improvement compared to some of the preceding ones, so you need to tell me if that's just wishful thinking on my side or if you feel that way too!


	10. The Past Reaches Out

Hey there guys! I'm back :D Came back from Senegal a few weeks ago. Hope you like this chapter, I'm not really that sure if I like it but I've kept you waiting for long enough Happy reading!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Samurai Deeper Kyo.

Chapter 10

The Past Reaches Out

Yuya arrived at home and found that news of her little voyage had preceded her there.

Kyoshiro, sitting on the living room floor, stared up at her in disbelief.

"What?" Yuya asked, frowning slightly. She let herself fall onto the couch and her school bag slide down her shoulder and onto the floor.

It took several openings and closings of Kyoshiro's mouth before he could voice a coherent answer.

"You – you went to your old house? With **Shinrei**!? What - "

" - the fuck were you thinking, bitch?"

The door had banged open and Kyo strode into the room, eyes narrowed, deep crimson under his thick, dark eyebrows.

Yuya looked from one brother to the other, speechless.

"I – How the hell to you guys know about that anyway?" she then fired back, springing to her feet, her hands curling into fists. She rounded on Kyo. "And how can you even **think** of calling me bitch, bastard?"

The crease between his eyebrows deepened and Kyo's hand shot up to catch her chin.

"I'll call you whatever I want as long as you keep acting like a total idiot, woman." he said and Yuya couldn't suppress the flutter of fear that traversed her body as his eyes locked with hers. "What the **hell **were you thinking, bringing that asshole to your house?"

"Let go of me, jerk." Yuya yanked her head away. She staggered a few steps away from him and compensated this by glowering at him. "And I can take whoever I want to my house, you don't have any right to decide anything about that."

"You will not go anywhere with that guy." he said.

"Oh yeah? Watch me!" Yuya snarled, grabbed her bag and whipped out her phone. She was about to call said guy but Kyo had snatched it away before she had a chance to.

"You're not going anywhere, woman." Kyo repeated calmly and sat down on the nearest sofa, still holding her phone. Yuya stood watching him in outrage, her breath coming fast and ragged.

"Give it back." she demanded through clenched teeth. He ignored her request and looked past her at the opposite wall.

For a second, the blonde's eyes closed in exasperation; she expired slowly before opening them again. She strode to the sofa farthest away from Kyo and sat down. There was a moment of silence until she spoke in a carefully controlled voice.

"Right." she said. "Right. Kyoshiro, would you please explain something to me since the jerk you have for a brother doesn't seem to be able to do much more than insult me?"

The boy sitting on the rug between the two couches looked up at her with slight apprehension.

"Uh, yes of course ... Yuya-san?" He stole a glance at Kyo: he was still staring straight ahead of him.

"Right." she repeated. "Explain to me please why I shouldn't take Shinrei, whose father happens to work in the same firm as yours and whose brother is one of your best friends, to my house?"

Kyoshiro looked bewildered. "Work in the same firm? What firm do you mean?"

"In the Mibu Corporation for God's sake!" Yuya exclaimed. "What other firm could I be talking about?"

"But – but we've left the Mibu Corporation years ago!" the boy said, utterly surprised. "Didn't you know that?"

"No, I didn't." she said, taken aback. "But – why?"

"It's a complicated story, you'd have to ask my father." Kyoshiro said quickly but Yuya frowned. Clearly, she wasn't dropping the subject.

"So all of this is about who is in the Corporation and who isn't, or what?" she demanded.

"Well ...yeah. In a way." he said and shrugged.

"Ah."

Her frown got deeper. She leaped up from the couch and strode to the door that led to the kitchen where she stopped and turned round to face the room.

"I'm **not** going to have any of you dictate who I can meet or talk to just because of some stupid – some stupid **rivalry** you have with someone. I don't have anything to do with it."

She turned and made to leave the room.

"You're wrong." Kyo said in a quiet but steely voice that sufficed to stop her in her tracks. He was still staring at the wall opposite him with his back to her. "It's time your started digging around your past."

For a second her back and neck stiffened, then she reached out for the door, opened it and left.

* * *

"Shin - Shinrei!" Yuya gasped and with a jolt, she sat up in bed, wide eyed. She pulled her legs to her body and rested her head on her knees, cradling it in her hands. Her breathing accelerated, she panted, overwhelmed.

_Stop calling me midget, Shinrei, or I'll whoop your ass! ... A large white building, an ornate yin-yang symbol ... M – I – B – U ... Short black hair, gleaming red in the sun ... What are you doing here, all alone? ... Leave him, Yuya-chan ... he's always grumpy! ... Catch me if you can! _

_The door to the dojo ajar ... Dim ... the glint of swords slashing through thin air ... _

_And ... their eyes glistening... manically? Kyo's ruby eyes, inflamed? Shinrei's, glazed with ice? Hotaru's - murderous ... Surprise, fear, horrified admiration ... _

Now she knew the meaning of the dream that had troubled her these past nights. She had known Shinrei, Kyo, Kyoshiro, Hotaru, Akira, all of them before. Mibu Elementary School. Unconsciously, she had suppressed these early memories, they were just too painful to dwell on. She had done it well; it felt now as if her skull would burst under the pressure of their present vividness.

Rocking herself to and fro on her bed, her head still on her knees, she was surprised she felt no anger. It was more like a long-awaited reunion ... Slow, deep joy crept through Yuya. She could feel it invading her chest, sending a pleasant flush to her cheeks and she did her best to ignore the dull sense of foreboding that pounded in her mind.

She left her bed and ran out of the room. The sound of her footsteps thudded through the sleepy house until she reached Kyo's door down the corridor. Entering quietly, she saw him still asleep, lying with his back to her, his face hidden beneath long strands of dark hair. Yuya bit her lip, deliberating, then shrugging to herself , she crawled into bed next to him.

"Kyo?" she breathed, running a finger along his back, that she knew to have a golden, honeyish hue even though the darkness prevented her from seeing it.

She had expected him to wake up straight away but he slept on and Yuya edged nearer to him, feeling her pulse accelerate. She did not quite understand what she was even doing here; she had promised herself to ignore him completely for at least a few days. What had just happened had overridden this firm resolution and yesterday's fierce anger at evaporated.

She was so close now his hair tickled the bare skin of her arms and she brushed the bangs away from his face. Kyo seemed more peaceful in sleep than he usually looked. She smiled and propped herself up on her elbow and watched him sleep. The heat that emanated from his body enveloped hers and she snuggled up closer to him, feeling herself falling back into sleep.

Kyo woke up an hour later. He found it difficult to dismiss his surprise at the girl sleeping next to him and looked down at her face, wondering what had broken her resolve. He had planned on her to act all pissed off at least for a day before giving in. Not that he had given the matter much thought at all.

A slow grin pulled at the corners of his mouth and his head dipped toward the base of her neck. His teeth grazed her skin as he let his lips moved across it, gently teasing. Yuya let out a sigh and her fingers snaked into his hair, pulling him closer to her chest. His grin widened and a rough laugh escaped him, stifled against her chest.

"Kyo?"

She had woken up and was gazing down sleepily at the shock of dark hair that washed across her breast. It took a moment before she noticed their position.

"Um ... I" Yuya began, trying to regain control of her thoughts and remember why she was in his bed. With his mouth steadily exploring her skin however, softly sucking, kissing, nibbling, she had a hard time doing so.

"Kyo ... Wait a second, I have to tell - "

"Tell me later." he said, his voice husky, and covered her lips with his.

When they finally let go of each other, Yuya's alarm-clock had already began its strident ringing a solid half an hour ago. Yuya watched Kyo get up and disappear in his bathroom, her heart still racing from his touch.

"You'll be late, woman."

She glanced at the clock on his bedside table and scrambled out of bed.

"Crap. I still need to shower." the girl muttered and raced into her room.

Searching through her closet at top speed, she chose a salmon-colored t-shirt, a slightly above knee-length grey skirt, shoved a random choice of textbooks from her desk into her bag and slipped under the shower.

"Um, Kyo, I need to dress." Yuya said when she saw him sitting on her bed as she came out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her body.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Am I stopping you?"

Yuya's eyes drooped in annoyance. She snatched up her clothes and went to change in the bathroom leaving him to recline on her bed, smirking.

"What was it you had to tell me?" he asked, when she emerged again.

"Oh, that." she looked a little bemused. "I – It's just that I had kind of an epiphany this morning ... I had that dream again. The dream about how my brother got murdered. And I'd never noticed before but in it, there is actually a part where I think of Shinrei - "

Kyo's eyes narrowed but Yuya's eyes were fixed on a point behind him, as she explored her new memories.

"And then I woke up and suddenly I remembered ... I remembered lots of things about the past ... About you and Kyoshiro and Hotaru and Shinrei ... I remembered being in Mibu Elementary School with you guys and ... and talking to you ... "

Yuya's voice died away and slowly her gaze came back into focus and rested on his face. He closed his eyes loftily.

"So you finally got there. Took you long enough, dogface." he said snidely and received a slap for it.

"Thanks for the support, jerk." the girl huffed but she felt too happy to be angry at him, even for the incident with Shinrei the day before.

Kyo snorted and got up. "Come on, dogface. We're late." he said and left the room.

* * *

"Kyoooo! Wait for us!"

The addressed glanced around and saw Yukimura waving at him from the other end of the hallway, standing next to Hotaru.

"What?" he demanded, irritated by his bubbly manner as his friend pranced to halt before him.

"He wants to copy your calculus homework." Hotaru translated Yukimura's sweet smile in a bored voice.

"Hn." Kyo closed his locker and they started walking to their homeroom. "Yukimura, I need you to keep an eye on the Corporation whore." he said.

Yukimura lifted his eyebrows, tilting his head to the right.

"And the Corporation whore is ... ?" he asked.

"I think he means my brother." Hotaru supplied when Kyo pretended not to have heard.

"Aah. Shinrei-chan!" the raven-haired boy smiled. "He sure is a cutie, isn't he? And, speak of the devil, there he comes!"

Kyo's head spinned around and, true enough, his gaze fell on Shinrei coming from the opposite direction. A muscle in his temple twitched and his brows pulled together, narrowing his eyes to slits.

"Kyo" said Shinrei calmly.

"Asshole." he growled and swept past him.

* * *

Kyoshiro, Mahiro, Akira and Yuya left their last lesson for the day, Akira looking smug, Yuya less so. Despite the help she had got from Kyo, the math test hadn't gone as well as she had hoped. Given the discouraged way in which her teacher had shook his head after a glance at her paper, it was highly probably she would fail. Heaving a great sigh, Yuya remembered to tell Kyoshiro she wasn't taking the car today.

"You're not taking the car? Why?" he asked. She could easily read the frown that had appeared on his face. He was thinking about the Shinrei-incident the day before.

"I'm going to visit my old orphanage. I only got the idea in English earlier, so I didn't come in a second car this morning."

Kyoshiro's mouth formed into an 'O' of surprise but he nodded slowly.

"Your old orphanage? I thought you said you'd been living on your own." Akira remarked and a slight wrinkle appeared on his forehead.

"Well, yes I did say that since I only spent one night in the place before I ran away." The blonde explained as they walked out of the entrance doors, squinting as the bright sunlight hit their eyes. "Of course, you wouldn't think Hell's Kitchen was much better but it was, it really was ..."

Yuya was careful today to avoid the parking lot where she knew Shinrei would be. Instead, she used another exit that lead onto a bustling street, walked to the next underground station and descended into its depths.

A gasp escaped her when her eyes fell on the graffiti that covered the wall of the platform she had to wait on. Thick, powerful streaks of colour, cherry red, white, black and emerald green snaked in and out of each other forming a set of signs. Yuya ambled nearer and looked up at it. If it hadn't been for the train that came racing onto the platform moments later, she would probably have stayed there, staring up at their interlocking names ... _Benitora Shirogarasu Kurosasori Yuya ... _

The loud honk signalling the train's imminent departure ripped through the tunnel and Yuya ran through the last wagon's doors a few seconds before they closed. She hurried to the very back and saw the picture dissolve into a blur of colour as they hurtled away.

There was nothing left to see but thick blackness and she closed her eyes. She saw her younger self sitting on the cold floor of that same platform, wrapped in an men's old jacket, next to Kurosasori and Shiro, watching Benitora handle spray cans, absorbed while under his hands grew a small masterpiece, stretching out its tentacle-like signs to the vaulted ceiling above them.

Tears fell onto Yuya's lips even as they curved into a smile.

* * *

The underground had taken Yuya to the very heart station of Tokyo's train system so it was not too surprsing for Benitora to happen to be there too and it was by none other than him that she was pulled into a fierce hug as she ascended the steps leading up from he platform.

"Benitora!"

Gently pushing him away, Yuya looked up at him

"So? Happy to see me at all?" he asked, still grinning.

"Tora, of course I am! Look ... " Yuya bit her lip and the smile she had been wearing faded somewhat. "I'm really sorry about what happened, the way it happened ... and – "

But Benitora had put his hands over his ears.

"I'm not listening! I was the one behaving like a total bastard and I know it." he said, running a hand over his bandanna-covered head.

Yuya frowned up at him for a long moment and recognised in the expression on his face that taking any of the blame on herself would be futile. She turned and started off toward a platform for regional trains.

"Well, come on." she said when she looked over her shoulder and saw him standing on the same spot, looking crestfallen. "You're coming with me."

"Oh!" Benitora recovered in a split-second. "Sure, wherever you go, I go! Have I already told you I would follow you to the end of the world?"

"**Yes, you have!**"

* * *

They stepped into violent sunlight and onto a narrow stone platform on the outskirts of Tokyo. The small station house was deserted except for a ticket vendor in fierce battle with a fly behind the thick glass of his booth. He seemed to take their interrupting it by asking him for a map of the neighbourhood as a capital offence.

Even so, it took them some time to find the right street and Benitora had plenty of time to appraise his surroundings.

"This is a pretty tight place, I'd say" he said, lips puckered. "I'd have thought they'd stuck you into some run-down place downtown."

"Yeah, I know." Yuya said and shrugged. "Another thing to add to my list."

"Your list?"

"Yeah. My 'What I Don't Know, Will Probably Never Find Out and Nobody Will Tell Ever Me' list."

Benitora lifted his eyebrows but did not comment. He knew Kyo and his family too well to ignore the truth in her statement.

They could now see the right street sign in the distance now and beside him, she broke into a brisk walk.

"There it is!"

She was pointing at a large terracotta-coloured mansion, fifty meters down the street they had turned into.

"This is it? Looks nice enough."

His friend frowned and opened her mouth to retort but he cut across her.

"But I get why you left. Wouldn't have stayed in a freaking orphanage either."

He grinned down at her, he had taken the wind out of her sails. Yuya's lips twisted into a crooked smile and she nodded. They had reached the building now.

"Agazawa Orphanage." Benitora read off the square bronze plaque that hung next to the door. He rang the doorbell and a few seconds passed before a cool female voice rang through the intercom, bidding them to come in.

The door sprang open with a buzz and they entered a spacey entrance hall. Their shoes sank into thick, dark blue carpet and to their left a television set was showing a comedy show to the entertainment of a few people waiting in modern armchairs.

Yuya raised her eyebrows, eyes round. Agazawa orphanage had not been as innovative four years ago.

They made their way to the long reception desk on the opposite side of the room. The woman behind it smiled at them in a polite, efficient kind of way that made Yuya think the cool female voice belonged to her.

She looked confused though, when they stopped at her desk.

"Present your residency cards to that door if you want to reach your rooms." she told them, pointing to a door at their right. It read "Reserved to Residents" and Yuya didn't need Benitora's whisper to notice the metal detectors built into it. She could discern a figure sitting behind the milky glass of the door, probably the one charged with relieving the more resilient orphans of their metal goods.

Yuya reverted her attention to the receptionist.

"We're not residents. "

"Oh, I'm sorry. What can I do for you?" she asked.

She had regained her composure and was smiling again.

"Well, actually, I **used** to be a resident of this orphanage four years ago and I would like to access my file and any of my belongings I might have left behind."

"Of course," the woman said "but I'm afraid we require identification for any file accessing."

"Will my driver's license do?"

"Of course."

The receptionist glanced at the card, then at Yuya's face and back again. Satisfied, she began entering her name into the computer sitting next to her. She waited a few seconds and looking surprised, turned back to them.

"I'm afraid we never had a resident named Yuya Shiina."

"What?"

The blonde leaned over the desk to peer at the screen.

0 entries found for name "Yuya Shiina". Check for spelling errors or typing mistakes.

"That can't be!" she exclaimed, frowning at the woman who now looked politely offended.

Yuya felt Benitora's hand on her shoulder and forced herself to an even tone.

"I'm sorry, I mean, excuse me, are you sure about this?" she asked. "This database system, is it new?"

"Well, yes." Her interlocutor said with ill-grace. "It was introduced about two or so years ago. **But** – "

She emphasized the 'but'; Yuya had already been about to voice a second question.

" - **all** past residents were entered into the system, without exception."

For a moment, Yuya looked crestfallen but then she asked, "And the paper documents? Did you keep them?"

"No, really, we haven't." the receptionist said, mollified by Yuya's obvious shock. "I'm sorry, everything was digitalised and every one of our documents was entered into the database - look, are you sure this is the orphanage you came to?"

"Yes ... Yes, I am."

The girl's eyebrows pulled together. She stared at the computer screen, her eyes scanning it again and again, looking for something they might have missed because this just could not **be**. Who was powerful and influential enough to wipe out every trace of her like this? If she went to the police, would there also be no record of her transfer to this orphanage, no file even, for her brother's murder?

She could feel Benitora tugging at her arm and with a weak smile at the receptionist, Yuya followed him out of the building.

"Yuya!" he exclaimed after they had put a few meters between them and the house.

She looked up at him, only now noticing the excitement on his face. She eyed him with irritation. This was hardly fitting.

"Yuya, didn't you notice?"

"Notice **what**?" she demanded. "That someone's been trying to erase my whole fucking life?"

"Nooo, much better than that!" he said with delight and Yuya rounded on him, not far from ripping his throat out.

"You didn't notice, did you?" Benitora repeated.

An angry snarl escaped her and he hurried on to explain himself.

"Look, try to remember. Did you look at the papers on her desk?

"No. Why?"

"They all had the sign of Mibu Corp. on them!" he looked at her expectantly "Come on, you know what that means!"

"Yes ... The orphanage." Yuya breathed. "It belongs to them."

She gazed up at him, unseeing.

* * *

Mibu Elementary School. Agazawa Orphanage. Nozumu asking Muramasa Mibu to care for her. There was too close a bond now between her brother, his death and the Mibu Corporation for her to ignore it. And Nozumu had known of the threat that hung over him while he was still alive. Was belonging to this monstrous organisation such a dangerous business? Was that why Muramasa had left? Yuya had trouble picturing him as a coward.

These thoughts flitted through her mind while the train took them back to Tokyo. They ran in tangled circles, leaving her with one essential question. Where lurked the threat? Within or without the corporation? Were its many enemies the answer? It was bound to have a considerable amount of those, a common consequence of power were foes, after all. In that case, had her name been deleted from the database too protect her from them?

The other option would be ... within. The buried sense of warning Yuya had had since that morning sharpened in the back of her mind. She sincerely hoped for the first.

* * *

Please, please, pleaase review! :P Thanks for reading and for bearing with my mistakes (spelling, typos, whatever ) :D

Ja ne!

YuyaSama


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